AUSTRALIA
Yahoo! News
Megan Neil – AAP on February 9, 2017
The Catholic Church’s canon law may have been deliberately misused to excuse and cover up child sexual abuse, a member of the Vatican’s child protection body says.
Canon law has not been a reason for abuse occurring in the church, Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors member Baroness Sheila Hollins has told an Australian inquiry.
“I know of no evidence that canon law has been a reason for the occurrence of abuse,” part of her submission to the child abuse royal commission states.
“In no canon does it require a member of the church to ‘cover up’ a canonical offence in order to protect the reputation of the church.”
Baroness Hollins said such cover-ups completely misunderstood the purpose of canon law in that area – the reparation of scandal, the restoration of justice and the reform of the offender.
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