VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

Reuters in Vatican City
Wednesday 10 June 2015

Pope Francis has approved an unprecedented Vatican department to judge bishops accused of covering up or not preventing sexual abuse of children, meeting a key demand by victims’ groups.

A statement said the department would come under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal arm, “to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors”.

Victims groups have for years been urging the Vatican to establish clear procedures to make bishops more accountable for abuse in their dioceses, even if they were not directly responsible for it.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi told reporters the bishops could also be judged if they had failed to take measures to prevent sexual abuse of minors.

The complaints against the bishops would be…