ROME
Rome Reports
July 31, 2020
In the vademecum on cases of sexual abuse, there are still improvements to be made. That’s according to Fr. Jordi Bertomeu, from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who in 2018 was sent to Chile alongside Msgr. Charles Scicluna, to investigate the Church’s sexual abuse scandal. Their work prompted the pope to change the Church’s approach to dealing with this challenge.
In a virtual conference organized by Mexico’s Center for the Protection of Minors (CEPROME), he said the document still contains some gaps. For example, it doesn’t say that victims must be notified of any security measures taken against an accused priest, a distressing reality for victims. He also says some of the document’s affirmations are too generic, citing the example that a bishop must report a priest to authorities “if this is considered necessary.”
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