ROME/IRELAND
Irish Times
Paddy Agnew, Patsy McGarry
The Vatican has denied any change to its policy over the mandatory reporting of sex-abuse cases to civil authorities, after reports last week of a Vatican training document that advised newly appointed bishops it was “not necessarily” their duty to do so.
Responding to media reports that a Vatican consultant, Paris-based Msgr Tony Anatrella, had made the suggestion to a bishops seminar, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, the president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, said the church had a “moral and ethical responsibility” to report abuse.
“We, the president and the members of the commission, wish to affirm that our obligations under civil law must certainly be followed, but even beyond these civil requirements, we all have a moral and ethical responsibility to report suspected abuse to the civil authorities who are charged with protecting our society,” he said.
The 2010 Guide to Understanding Basic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Procedures Concerning Sexual Abuse Allegations states that “civil law concerning the reporting of crimes to the appropriate authorities should always be followed”. Cardinal O’Malley’s statement basically reaffirms this position.
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