The Catholic Church Finally Establishes A Law On How To Handle Sex-Abuse Claims

It only took a 1,356-page report by a Pennsylvania grand jury, decades of sex-abuse scandals around the world, the sentencing of an Australian cardinal to six years in jail, and worldwide outrage to prompt the Vatican to draw up a law that codifies how sex-abuse claims against the clergy are to be treated within the Catholic Church.

The church law goes a long way in establishing a uniform framework for how allegations of sexual abuse must be dealt with and puts all clergy on notice that this behavior will no longer be hidden, countenanced, or ignored.

Yet, in spite of the Vatican’s good intentions, many believe the law, announced last week by Pope Francis, is too little too late. In part that’s because it doesn’t provide compulsory reporting of sex-abuse allegations to local criminal authorities.  Many feel that lacking this requirement, the church will continue to hide criminal activity amongst prelates.

However, in an institution where time is measured over centuries as opposed to weeks or even years, the enactment of the sex-abuse law is monumental.  By setting in stone procedures that must be followed when sex assault is reported, it guarantees that higher-ups will be notified, conduct investigations, and take appropriate action.  Even if it’s only within the church, that’s a huge step.

Up to now, there had never been a uniform approach on how to deal with sex-abuse allegations. Although the Pope is the titular leader of the church, each bishop runs his own diocese as he sees fit.  In handling allegations of sex abuse, bishops reacted differently. Some would cover it up.  Others might send priests to weekend therapy sessions or move them to other parishes. Some would pay civil settlements to victims with compelled confidentiality clauses. The rare diocese would report the charge to police and let the priest be criminally prosecuted.  There was no uniformity and sex abuse was generally tolerated.

With the new law, the Vatican has codified exact procedures, timelines, expectations, requirements, and standards of law (like the presumption of innocence), that every diocese must implement around the world.

The prelude, written by Pope Francis, opens with the words, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” It condemns sexual abuse, calling such acts “crimes that that betray the trust of the faithful.”  Specifically, the law prohibits the following:

1. Forcing someone, by violence or threat or through abuse of authority, to perform or submit to sexual acts;
2. Performing sexual acts with a minor or a vulnerable person; and
3. The production, exhibition, possession or distribution, including by electronic means, of child pornography, as well as by the recruitment of or inducement of a minor or a vulnerable person to participate in pornographic exhibitions.

In a separate section, the law outlaws any cover-ups (acts or omissions) “intended to interfere with or avoid civil investigations or canonical investigations, whether administrative or penal.”

This is also major.  Cover-ups had been the name of the game.  Not reporting alleged crimes to higher-ups in the church, not conducting full-fledged investigations internally, moving alleged sex abusers to other parishes where they still had access to children, all of these maneuvers to avoid institutional scrutiny are now outlawed.

The new law establishes a system through which reports of sexual abuse can easily be made and investigated.  Within a year of its effect (June 1, 2019), each diocese must set up “one or more public, stable and easily accessible systems for submission of reports.” That office is then required to look into the complaints within 30 days of receipt, then submit its own report to church higher-ups within another 90 days.

The law also states that if a crime is reported, the church can no longer extract from the complainant “an obligation to keep silent” in exchange for a promise to act.  If the reporter believes his allegation will not be investigated impartially, he can also go directly to the Vatican for consideration.  The church must act on all reports of sexual abuse unless the report is “manifestly unfounded.”

Outside consultants (lay people) can be hired to conduct investigations, particularly where a conflict of interest might be involved or where a church higher-up, like a bishop, is accused.

The law specifies that all paperwork, interviews, and information relating to a complaint must be preserved and that church officials can take measures to safeguard information in individual parishes if concerned it might be lost or destroyed.

These are powerful and positive steps.  By recognizing the depth of the problem and the complete failure in the past in addressing it uniformly, the church has now taken concrete steps to confront the crisis and make sure procedures are in place to deal with all such complaints in the future.

It still leaves open, however, the issue of why the Vatican didn’t compel all clergymen to report alleged sex abuse to police for possible criminal prosecution.  I was told by a reporter friend who worked at the Vatican for many years that the church was reluctant to impose such a requirement because, he said, every country handles these allegations in its own way.  Many have developed systems of law like the United States where the person accused is guaranteed due process. But systems in less developed countries may not abide by such standards such as the presumption of innocence. They might also punish the accuser for being involved in sexual misconduct as well as the accused.

However, he noted, all churches are required to follow the civil laws of the country in which they’re located.  Thus, in countries which compel the reporting of sex crimes against children to civil authorities, the church must comply.  Anyone with knowledge that the church is not abiding by this civil requirement can go to authorities and report the abuse themselves. The church could then face its own sanctions for failing to report.

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Toni Messina has tried over 100 cases and has been practicing criminal law and immigration since 1990. You can follow her on Twitter: @tonitamess.