Pope Francis makes it mandatory for clergy to report sex abuse

Pope Francis has made it mandatory for Roman Catholic clergy to report cases of clerical sexual abuse and cover-ups to the Church.

WEB DESK

In a bid to tackle the sexual abuses that have put the church’s moral authority into question and seriously damaged its reputation, Pope Francis has passed a measure to oblige those who know about sex abuse in the Catholic Church to report it to their superiors.

Every diocese in the world will now be obliged to have a system for the reporting of abuse, under a new law published by the Vatican — but the requirement will not apply to secrets revealed to priests in the confessional.

Pope Francis in the text of the legal decree said it is time to learn from the bitter lessons of the past.It follows a series of clerical assault cases in countries ranging from Australia to Chile, Germany and the US.

The Motu Proprio, a legal document issued under the pope’s personal authority, declares that anyone who has knowledge of abuse or suspects it, is “obliged to report it promptly” to the Church, using easily accessible systems.

The law only applies within the Church and has no force to oblige individuals to report abuse to civil authorities.

Under the new measure, every diocese around the world is obliged by June 2020 to create a system for the reporting of sexual abuse by clerics, the use of child pornography and cover-ups of abuse.

The new law follows a historic Vatican summit on child sexual abuse by priests in February, which saw much self-recrimination by the Church and horror stories from abuse survivors.

Hundreds of abuse scandals have rocked the church globally, with a pattern emerging over the past decade of bishops failing to refer clergy accused of sexual abuses to state police authorities and instead, moving them to a different area to continue their pastoral work.