UNITED STATES
American Thinker
By Rick Moran
Two decades of scandals involving Catholic dioceses covering up allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clergy apparently hasn’t made much of an impression on the Vatican.
The coverups have come close to destroying the Roman Catholic Church. And yet, a new policy guideline for bishops released this month state that it is “not necessarily” the duty of bishops to report accusations of clerical child abuse and that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police.
Guardian:
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.
“According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds,” the training document states.
The training guidelines were written by a controversial French monsignor and psychotherapist, Tony Anatrella, who serves as a consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Vatican released the guidelines – which are part of a broader training programme for newly named bishops – at a press conference earlier this month and is now seeking feedback. …
It’s possible to read too much into these guidelines, but as a matter of public relations, it’s a disaster. If a bishop is made aware of a specific case involving clergy and the molestation of a child, urging the family to report the crime to police simply isn’t enough. That’s been the problem in the past – that the church basically looked away while predator priests were allowed to continue their attacks – usually in another parish. Pressure was placed on families by the church hierarchy to let the diocese handle the problem.
The guidelines suggest some sort of internal investigation before going to police. It appears that the Vatican is trying to strike some kind of balance between the rights of clergy not to be falsely accused and the rights of victims. On paper, that may be acceptable. But in practice, it still looks like a coverup – especially given recent history.
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