ROME (ITALY)
National Catholic Reporter
Dec. 17, 2019
By Joshua J. McElwee
Pope Francis Dec. 17 abolished the Catholic Church’s practice of imposing strict confidentiality rules on the Vatican’s legal proceedings in cases involving clergy sexual abuse or misconduct, in a reform sought for decades by abuse survivors and advocates.
In a brief but sweeping new instruction that goes into effect immediately, the pontiff states plainly that the practice, known as the pontifical secret, is no longer to apply to any accusations, proceedings, or final decisions involving clergy abuse.
While such matters will continue to be treated with a lower level of confidentiality, the pope also specifies that anyone who files a report, alleges abuse, or comes forward as a witness to abuse “shall not be bound by any obligation of silence with regard to matters involving the case.”
The new instruction, which contains five short points, is titled Sulla riservatezza delle cause (“On the Confidentiality of Legal Proceedings”).
In a separate action released at the same time as the instruction, Francis also made changes to a set of norms issued by Pope John Paul II in 2001 that define the “grave delicts” the church reserves to the judgement of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In those changes, which go into effect Jan. 1, the pope redefines child pornography as any inappropriate photographic material taken of minors under the age of 18, raising the age threshold from the previous standard of the age of 14.
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