UNITED KINGDOM
Young Herald
Keith Porteous Wood, NSS executive director, commented: “It is unfortunately no surprise that these guidelines encourage bishops not to report suspected abuse, rather than obligating them to do so as the United Nations recommended specifically to the Vatican in 2014”.
A document that spells out how senior clergy members ought to deal with allegations of abuse, which was recently released by the Vatican, emphasised that, though they must be aware of local laws, bishops’ only duty was to address such allegations internally.
As The Crux says, “If the Church is to recover from the abuse scandals, bishops need every tool available, and these courses provide a chance to equip them”.
The report claims that church officials believe they are under no legal obligation to report child sex abuse allegations to law enforcement officials; evidently, church officials believe they have no moral imperative to report such allegations either. The guidelines on child abuse was presented to new bishops last September in the annual training course organised by the Congregation for Bishops, Allen noted.
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