Free Republic

VATICAN ABUSE NORMS RELEASED Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the Vatican's guidelines on sex abuse and the early reaction to it: The three most noteworthy features of the Vatican's new guidelines are (a) its commitment to the due process rights of priests (b) its insistence on cooperation with civil authorities and (c) its restatement of episcopal authority in these matters. It was reassuring to learn that the Vatican says, "The accused cleric is presumed innocent until the contrary is proven." Significantly, the guidelines say that "the prescriptions of civil law regarding the reporting of such crimes to the...