AUSTRALIA
SBS
AAP
The Vatican has been asked to change a system which sees just 12 people decide the Catholic Church’s disciplinary process for child sex abusing priests from around the world.
Teresa Devlin, the chief executive of Ireland’s National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, says it takes at least two years for Rome’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to reach an outcome after a case has been referred.
“I know that we have asked them (the Vatican) to consider alternatives,” Ms Devlin told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney on Friday.
“That’s a matter for them but I don’t think it’s justice for the accused. It’s not justice for the complainant.”
The royal commission heard an Irish allegation may be sent to Rome after the completion of civil processes, regardless of whether a priest was found guilty or innocent.
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