Posted on 02/10/2016 8:01:48 PM PST by MarchonDC09122009
Bishops do not have to report child abuse, Vatican says
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Bishops do not have to report child abuse, Vatican says
The document emphasises that bishops' only duty is to address such allegations internally
   Samuel Osborne    Wednesday 10 February 2016 21:01 BST
The document explaining how senior clergy members ought to deal with allegations of abuse suggests only victoms or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images
The Catholic Church is telling newly appointed bishops it is "not necessarily" their duty to report accusations of clerical child abuse to authorities.
A document explaining how senior clergy members ought to deal with allegations of abuse suggests only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police.
The document, recently released by the Vatican, emphasises that bishops' only duty is to address such allegations internally - though it says they must be aware of local laws.
Details were reported by John Allen, associate editor of the Catholic News Site Cruxnow.com.
“According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds,†the document states. Read more
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The guidelines were written by the controversial monsignor and psychotherapist Tony Anatrella, who is serving as consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family.
Although the guide acknowledges "the church has been particularly affected by sexual crimes committed against children," it emphasises statistics showing the vast majority of sexual assaults against children are committed within the family and by friends and neighbours, The Guardian reports.
Pope Francis previously declared a "zero tolerance" policy for members of the clergy who abuse children.
   More about:    Child Abuse    clergy sex abuse    Child Sex Abuse    Catholic Church    Pope Francis
From crux.com:
Sexual abuse
Pope’s anti-abuse panel presses on despite criticism from survivor
The commission will ask Pope Francis to remind all bishops of the importance of personal outreach to abuse victims and to institute a special liturgy and a day of prayer.
Ines_stmartin
By Inés San MartÃn
Vatican correspondent
related Victim critical of pope on abuse asked to leave commission.
And yet the defenders of this travesty will be vocal and adamant.
I would point a legal sticking point in this situation.
One — all priests, regardless of position within the church, of the Catholic church are recognized as citizens of “nation” of the Vatican. As such they are first subject to Vatican law.
Two — As such the Vatican can invoke its status as a sovereign nation to protect its priests.
This is when treaty law becomes a major pain, imo.
So are all imams citizens of the nation of Islam? - assuming there is such a nation.
If so - send them all back to the countries to which they owe their citizenship.
The Catholic Church needs to do away with the celibacy nonsense which attacks homosexuals and other deviants. They should instead allow heterosexual married priests.
In which case within the US, most any adult in any form of supervisory capacity must report to the authorities allegations of child abuse that come to their attention, or else can be made subject to prosecution for failures to do so.
For both better and worse?
It is a technicality of treaty law.
The US recognizes the Vatican as a sovereign nation.
the Vatican has long maintained that its priests are first and foremost liable to Vatican law.
Personally I believe that those priests who commit such acts should be dealt with by the nation in which the crime occurred.
Only a very few officials of the Vatican, here as diplomats in Washington DC enjoy any diplomatic immunity. The priests at your local church have zero legal immunity for crimes they may commit.
I understand that, but the Vatican has the power to tell their bishops not to report crimes and there is little anyone can do about it, except complain.
The Vatican has seldom asserted these rights, they usually transfer the offending priest to another diocese.
this does not address the sickness of the priest involved or the implied lack of respect for the laws the nation in which the priest has his parish.
What treaty is this?
Priests are subject to the laws of whatever country it is, where they reside. The Catholic Church does not consider them “citizens” although it does consider them to be subject to canon law.
The only priests who have a separate citizenship are those who reside within the Vatican, which is a separate state.
OMG!!! Enough with this Pope.
So is that why Cardinal Law is living in a palatial apartment rather than in a prison in the US?
That’s cool cause pope dude gonna watch a bunch of em swim cross the Rio grande.
Just out of curiosity, do you know what that phrase means?
Kind of hard to argue against consecrated celibacy when it has both implicit and explicit support from the Apostle Paul, among others.
Besides, celibacy has nothing to do with this article anyway.
Jesus wants children and all of us to be free to approach him.
Anyone who adulterates and harms the children, is damned and may as well wear a Millstone round their neck.
The Catholic Church has willfully allowed thousands of depraved priests to seriously harm tens of thousands of children round the world.
You shall know them by the fruit they bear.
“And they brought young children to Him, that He should touch them: and His disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” - Mark 10:13-14
Jesus is telling his disciples to allow the children to come up to him. It’s only used in the other way because we rarely use “suffer” to mean “allow” these days.
The Vatican can say what they want but U.S. priests are subject to U.S. law, period.
This was one of the reasons for the Reformation in England. People were sick and tired of Catholic priests breaking the law and claiming immunity from secular courts.
U.S. priests are subject to U.S. law, period.
Not if their bishops and the church hierarchy covers up the crimes, so U.S. law never finds out about them. THAT’s the pedophilia scandal of the Catholic Church - not the actual cases of abuse, but the criminal coverup by bishops.
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