In a new law, Pope Francis says the rule of “pontifical secrecy” no longer applies to abuse-related accusations, trials and decisions under the Catholic Church’s canon law.
Pope Francis abolished the use of the Vatican’s highest level of secrecy in clergy sexual abuse cases Tuesday, responding to mounting criticism that the rule of “pontifical secrecy” has been used to protect pedophiles, silence victims and prevent police from investigating crimes.
Francis also raised from 14 to 18 the cutoff age below which the Vatican considers pornographic images to be child pornography. The reform is a response to the Vatican’s increasing awareness of the prolific spread of online child porn that has frequently implicated even high-ranking clergymen. While the Vatican has long tried to insist this was not the case, it also never mandated that bishops and religious superiors report sex crimes to police, and in the past it has also encouraged bishops not to do so.
But even under the threat of subpoenas and raids, bishops have sometimes felt compelled to withhold canonical proceedings given the “pontifical secret” rule, unless given permission to hand documents over by the Vatican. The new law makes that explicit permission no longer required. In recent years, individual abuse scandals, national inquiries, grand jury investigations, U.N. denunciations and increasingly costly civil litigation have devastated the Catholic hierarchy’s credibility across the globe, and Francis’ own failures and missteps in dealing with particular cases have emboldened his critics.
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