Pope Francis issued a groundbreaking law Thursday requiring all Catholic priests and nuns around the world to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-up by their superiors to church authorities.
Msgr. Juan Ignacio Arrieta talks to journalists during a news conference to present the new sex abuse law May 9. On Thursday he introduced sweeping orders that compel priests and nuns to report pedophile clergy and bishops who cover up abuse to church authorities. The law also protects whistleblowers from retribution.
“Even the leadership is answerable to canonical law — there is no immunity,” he said, adding,"People must know that bishops are at the service of the people. They are not above the law, and if they do wrong, they must be denounced.” The rules demand that all dioceses have a system in place by next June to allow whistleblowers to report accusations, while shielding them from “prejudice, retaliation or discrimination.”
Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich first proposed the use of metropolitan bishops in November at a summit of U.S. bishops and pushed it again at the February meeting in Rome. Now, the pope’s new rules are likely to be reflected in new norms on abuse to be drawn up by U.S. bishops when they meet next month.
“It’s taken a long time, if you consider the scandals have been ongoing since 2002, but these rules close a lot of loopholes and are a milestone,” said Gerard O’Connell, an associate editor of America, the Jesuit magazine. “A universal law has to factor in diversity of cultures," said archbishop Scicluna, adding, “We cannot tell states what their citizens should be doing. We should respect domestic law.”
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