A few months ago, during the height of the latest abuse scandal, the Holy See created a new page on its website offering resources documenting the Church’s response to the problem over the last number of years.
One of the things they put on it was a brief, layman’s guide to the procedures the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith uses in evaluating cases of priestly sexual abusers.
One of the things that document did was say that there is a revision underway of the current regulations, which are set forth in a motu proprio called Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela. Specifically, the document said:
For some time the CDF has undertaken a revision of some of the articles of Motu Proprio Sacramentorum Sanctitatis tutela, in order to update the said Motu Proprio of 2001 in the light of special faculties granted to the CDF by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
Now a plethora of press reports indicate that the publication of the revision is nigh. In fact, according to several press accounts, it was approved by Pope Benedict in a Saturday audience with Cardinal William Levada (head of the CDF) last week. (NOTE: That it was a Saturday audience is kind of odd. Normally the pope meets with the head of the CDF on Fridays, though perhaps not that much should be read into the shift of days.)
There is no way of knowing at this point how accurate the press accounts are of what the new norms will say, but piecing bits together from different reports suggest that there may be interesting things afoot.
First, what kind of form will the new norms take? It appears that they may not be a new motu proprio—which is a document issues by the pope. Instead, they may be an instruction, which is the kind of document the head of the CDF could issue with the approval of the pope.
It also appears that, concerning priestly sexual abuse, they will largely serve to reinforce the status quo. They will not, according to at least one report, mandate a “one strike and you’re out” policy on a global level. This kind of policy is in place in the United States and in certain other countries, but it has not been mandated globally. If the mainstream media goes after the new norms in a big way, expect it to go after this aspect of them as proof the Holy See isn’t doing enough or still doesn’t “get it.”
Another thing the mainstream media may go after is that the new norms will certainly not require bishops all over the world to report suspected abusers to the police. The norms may say something about complying with local law regarding sexual abuse, but they won’t mandate automatic reporting to civil authorities because it would give totalitarian countries—like Communist China or Vietnam or, apparently, Belgium—a new tool for persecuting the Church, or harming the confidentiality of accusers (some will come forward only on the condition they they aren’t going to have to get involved with the criminal justice system, which is one of the reasons such victims have been speaking out against the actions of the Belgian authorities; they had been frank with the Church under conditions of confidentiality, only to have their files seized by the state for possible use in criminal prosecutions, meaning that the victims may be dragged into civil court).
However understandable the Holy See’s motives may be in not mandating universal reporting to the authorities, don’t count on the MSM to understand them.
A change that the media might see as “good but not enough” in the new norms is the extension of the statue of limitations on reporting priestly sexual abuse from 10 years to 20 years, starting with the victim’s 18th birthday. The CDF has the ability to waive the current 10 year statute of limitations, and according to reports it routinely does so, so the extension to 20 years actually would represent a kind of codification of the status quo.
An interesting expansion of the way sex abuse cases will be treated, reportedly, is that possession of child pornography will now be counted as one of the offenses reserved to the CDF.
At least one source as reports that the abuse of mentally impaired adults will be classified as one of the reserved offenses, putting it on par with child sexual abuse.
It is also expected that the document will make certain provisions that are currently handled as “exceptions” to present norms. According to John Allen, the set of exceptions:
• Allows one judge on a church tribunal to be a lay person, and eliminates the requirement of a doctorate in canon law;
• Allows for by-passing trials in especially grave cases, removing abuser priests on the basis of a decree;
• Gives the doctrinal congregation power to “sanate” the acts of lower courts, meaning to clean up any procedural irregularities;
• Establishes that an appeal in abuse cases goes to the doctrinal congregation rather than the Signatura, the Vatican’s highest court.
There are also indications that the new norms may deal with other crimes reserved to the CDF, but these have not been the focus of current reporting.
MORE INFORMATION: HERE, HERE, HERE, AND HERE.
Speculation is that the new norms will be announced in the next two weeks, but of course we’ll have to see whether that is the case, as well as whether the above report correspond to what they will actually say.
Count on the media to try to milk maximum sensationalism out of the story (just look at some of the language used in the New York Times’ preliminary report).
In the meantime, what are your thoughts?
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NORM!!!!
(Sorry. Couldn’t resist. Neither could the Vatican, apparently).
Hello NCR,
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The Vatican is being set up for a much bigger fall than most are expecting. Here’s an early peak. Some amazingly damaging information about pivotal religious assertions is about to become widely available and understood. This child abuse scandal is merely proof of their absolute lack of veracity, before the real controversy is unsealed.
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Peace and Wisdom,
Seven
The Roman patriarch is no more, no matter what he does to try and hold on to power. The sheeple have awakened from their slumber and know that god was a man made creation along with all the laws.No divine being would do what these men of god have done to innocent children. God is the excuse for refusing to accept responsibility for a human being’s own actions. it is deceptive intelligence at its finest and those who believe in this nonsense are colluding with criminals.
it has all the same energy as the Inquisition- where the men of god decided what was NORMAL.
Why are openly hostile Catholic bigots allowed to post on these forums?
“Why are openly hostile Catholic bigots allowed to post on these forums?”
Because Catholics believe in freedom of speech for all, including the bigots. If Catholics didn’t allow bigots to vent their venom on Catholic forums, the bigots would probably spew their venom on the Muslims. Then fanatical Muslims would show up on the doorstep of these bigots as suicide bombers and send these cowards into eternity in less than two minutes flat.
I have the new guidelines for sex abuse. Dont get caught.
Openly hostile “catholics” are not for reforms or change, but for destruction. I feel they should not have space here. Are they without sin? To err is human and error will always exist. This does not mean the guilty should not be punished. Punishment is to reform and not to destroy. should the Church destroy a sinner or destroy ? Of course inadequacies of rules etc can be set right Let us all be good christians so that there will be less problems
These bigots should be done away with. Why, 500 yrs ago we would have impaled them, then tore them apart on a rack.People should only say good things about our wonderful un- erring pure as white church. Oh how sad, our once powerfull church which had the power over life and death is now relegated to banning people from blogs.Thats the worst we can do now. Oh, how weak we have become. But we still have power over alterboys.
Why is the Church blamed for the behavior of those who go against Her teaching? Isn’t that like blaming Jesus for the existence of Judas?
Pedophile priests are only one kind of traitor in the church. I note with sadness that the ones who scream loudest about this sin are often the ones who hate the church for declaring their own pet form of betrayal sin.
Few seem to recognize that like any smart enemy, Satan has sown weeds among the wheat, corruption among the faithful. DIdn’t Scripture promise that this would happen? Didn’t Jesus himself wonder if upon His return there would be any faith upon the earth? He warned us, that Satan desires to sift us as wheat. Feeling sifted yet?
In a way, I feel sorriest for those who think they are well-protected from the punishment due their sin. All the traitors, no matter their power and influence and stealth, will one day be revealed before a Heavenly Court from which there will be no appeal.
(Must resist responding to nonsense posts.)
(Couldn’t resist so here goes.)
“know that god was a man made creation”
That comes with a long list of other things that man made creations: the stars, the planets, oxygen, carbon, you know.. the whole universe is man-made.
“these men of god have done to innocent children”
Oh you mean these sorry men who betrayed Christ and his Church in their heinous sin? Now what do we do about those heroic men who remain faithful to Christ and his Church in their daily lives of virtue?
“God is the excuse for refusing to accept responsibility for a human being’s own actions.”
Why? Does the Church say that God made these men commit (or abet) sexual abuse?
“those who believe in this nonsense are colluding with criminals”
The logic escapes me. Oh wait .. No, it really escapes me.
BREAKING NEWS - EWTN ; New guidelines for sex abuse offenders. The homosexual pedophile priest must register as a sex offender. He must state his name, adress, hair color, height, weight,and give a short bio about himself such as what foods he like, movies, camping and what kind of guys he likes.Short term or long term relationships. Then this list will be distributed to all catholic priests in the world.Plus leave contact info.
“The Roman patriarch is no more, no matter what he does to try and hold on to power.”
That’s been said a few times before. Which makes me expect to see the Throne of the Fisherman still extant after the rest of Western Civilization implodes.
Ack! I hate it when Jimmy changes the titles of his posts “post facto” and my comments no longer make any sense. It makes me feel like that skinny, naked kid in the upper-right corner of this page.
You are sort of correct : the catholic church will hold onto its power and reign again for a short while. The beast that the Harlot rides on is the city that sits on seven hills. What city is called the city on seven hills? Rome. Bedecked with gold and precious stones, having a golden cup in her hands, full of abobomination and the blood of the saints.Yes the catholic church will rise again.
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When these priests rape a woman or molest a child can’t they just annul it? Can’t they just say it wasn’t a sacramental relationship or it would have worked out- so it never happened, and then they are free to ‘start over’ and just try something else; kind of like a re-marriage. I know my (ex-) wife has had a lot of relationships and children that never happened. Can’t they just make up another tradition that had never existed in the Bible or was practiced by the early Fathers of the church? Do we need a Vatican III? How could folks FILLED and GUIDED by the Holy Spirit have made a non-sacramental mistake? It certainly must not have happened. Hmmm.
Based on many of the comments here, it looks like Jimmy’s post must have been linked on a rabidly anti-Catholic blog—and apparently one with a wide readership of 14-year-olds.
@ Seven Star Hand
These ‘new discoveries’ you are talking about are not really new and hardly proove or disproove anything.
Its kind of SAD you try to get pubblicity for a work of mediocre and inferior scholarship.
The FBI is looking for the child pornography that was made with me while I attended St. Anthony’s Catholic Elementary School in Southern Pines, North Carolina. I would like more articles about pedophile priests and bishops who traffic in child pornography. How much money did the priests and bishops make, how many states were involved and how much of this child pornography ended up in Europe. I suffer from daily flashbacks and nightmares. When the FBI recover the child pornography I was used in, what would a just settlement be?
Johanna J. Smith, MA
3 Carriage Drive
Downingtown, PA
19335
Portia -
Last time I checked the Roman patriarch is still very muhc there and doing a heck of a job! He doesn’t hav to hold on to power, because the Holy Spirit does that for him. THe only sheeple are you who refuse to open your eyes to the clear as day truth that there indeed is a God, which you know from your own conscience and if you even wished to ignore that from clear scientific evidence. But you’re probably one of those ‘evolutionist free-thinkers’ who’s fooled themselves into believing that your fantastical fairy tales of evolutionary origins has any scientific merit whatsoever… It’s only in your dreams honey! And you’re right! A divine being would not do what these men have done to children. He wouldn’t even do what atheist regimes have done to men and women of all ages and races either. And he would never create a world that athiests love with violence and destruction and survival of the fittest where morality and law do not exist and have no basis thus making child abuse simply an evolutionary and natural product of nature. So why are you so upset? And where do your demands of responsibility for our actions come from? What does it matter in an atheist’s worldview? Why do you care? Without God, why don’t we try and get away with whatever we want? What responsibility do we have to a world that one day we’ll cease to inhabit or appreciate and that will all one day go away once the sun explodes and eradicates our solar system anyway? In your worldview intelligence doesn’t exist, it’s simply an illusion caused by random atomic collisions! So what is all this nonsense about ‘deception’ and ‘criminals’? Those don’t exist! DOn’t you know?!!! YOu’re an atheist!!! WAKE UP!!! Get the sheeple to throw off their deluded shackles of ‘morality’! We answer to no one! Eat drink sleep molest and enjoy your sexual deviencies! For tomorrow we die and cease to exist none of that matters! No thanks Portia, if you believe in that crazy deluded nonsense, you can jump off a cliff by yourself… I follow a rational world where all that exists and is ordered is rationally explained as originating from a divine begins, the prime mover, the source of thought, logic, order, emotion, and all else that we can clearly see exists and that is totally in accord with the Creation account of Genesis. Not your ridiculous fantasies and fairy tales of dust and rocks turning into people magically without any observable and testable cause or mechanism.
st bosco -
While Rome does reside within seven hills, as do many other places on planet Earth… Vatican City on the other hand, you know, another country altogether where the Catholic Church is headquartered… is another place entirely, or did that escape you? But if you actually, you know… did any serious study on the Book of Revelation, in which case you’d know that the ‘hills’ or ‘mountains’ are figurative to represent different kingdoms or completeness, which you obviously don’t… you’d also know that John was referring to the Jewish and Roman folks of the time who persecuted the Catholic Church and were wanting to be rid of it, and you’re behaving just like them! Congratulations on knowing knowing the Bible and on clumsily siding with the !@#$% and the AntiChrist! I’m sure you and Nero will get along quite well!
Henry -
The answer to all the above is no. This is because the Church is led by the Holy Spirit to preserve the proper tradition and teachings on marriage, abuse and other things that happen in the modern era for which the Bible doesn’t cover. Here’s an idea Henry! Why don’t you go check in the Bible and find me the specific passages on child sexual abuse and where it says what to do when you’re charged for it in the United States of America according to its civil law. Wait, what?! It doesn’t have anything of the kind in there? No, no, don’t give me vague passages that could or could not have anything to do with it, I want specifics! What if it wasn’t in the US? What if it was in England? What law firm should we go with? On what street is it located? The Bible has everything right?? And… hey! Wait a minute!!! Where’d we get the Bible from anyway? Didn’t the Catholic Church tell us this was the Bible based on their Traditions? Wha… what if they made those traditions up???!!!! Does the Bible tell us??? HOW DO WE KNOW HENRY???!!!! How can I trust you??? Is the Holy Spirit with you????!!!! What if you’re just a demon Henry??? What if you’re really a HERETIC????!!! Where is you name in the Bible so I can consult it and know whether to trust you or not???
wayne-
You dare to profane the Holy Spirit and bear false witness against God Himself??? I guess if you were back in Palestine 2000 years ago you too would be mocking and hurling insults at our Lord on the Cross! Perhaps if you read your Bible or knew anything about the Catholic Church you’d know the Holy Spirit’s role is in the protection of orthodoxy and proper guidance and teachings on morality and how to obey Christ and follow the Bible and correct Traditions and not let the Church fall victim to Heretics like you. The Holy Spirit does not control the free wills of men, or have you forgotten that part about God and free will that even elementary children can understand? This is why priests still have the free will do do evil things and turn against God, and this is why people like you turn into Judas Iscariots and leave the Church or pretend to stop believing in God altogether, because a coward like you won’t take responsibility for his own actions and conscience. And since you like to be all ‘Holier than thou’, why don’t we compare statistics between the Catholic Church pedophiles and ephebephiles to those committed by Protestants and others, particularly whatever sect of the day you happen to be a part of. I bet you’d be surprised Wayne! Hey Wayne! Do you send your children to public schools? Do you let doctors take off their clothes and examine them at the hospital? Do you even care to know how much more danger your children are in when they are there or are you some nutbag who sends them to those scavenging wolves like an uncaring parent? In fact, statistically, a non-priest and a non-Catholic like you must be guilty of abuse yourself! You monster!!! I’ll sooner see my kids in the pew of a Catholic Church and alone with a Catholic priest than in a public school, with a doctor, or a Protestant congregation or a potential threath like you! How does being painted by your own broad brush feel Wayne?
Here’s an institution with a hard line on the Hell due to those who betray the innocent, and engage in serious sexual sin. And you attack it? Because of the people who are DISOBEYING it? Way to go, bash the only people trying to DO something about the problem.
The Church teaches that those of us who do evil, will suffer. Those who use their power and authority to abet evil will suffer unimaginably.
We all do evil. Priests, bishops, rabbis, ministers, school teachers, day-care workers, fathers and mothers, atheists of any kind—we all have molesters among us. Oddly, I don’t see a hue-and-cry, and million-dollar lawsuits against the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, the World Council of Churches, or the National Education Association.
Yep there are molesters everywhere. And i was in the room everytime my daughter saw a doctor. Some of the doctors are personal friends, people i grew up with. My point is, you need to think twice about your religion, when the priesthood is one big homosexual fraternity. The icons and idols. Whos the dunce here? I dont belong to any sham religion.
“when the priesthood is one big homosexual fraternity”
Wayne, the likelihood of sex abuse of a minor is apparently much higher from public schools teachers. Do you also accompany your kids to school? I guess you have to think twice about sending your kids to public school?
Wait.. did you say *homosexual* fraternity? Is that your issue then? Wasn’t it less then a year ago when the Vatican was also excoriated for ruling out homosexuals from the priesthood? Isn’t the Church constantly vilified for holding fast to the Biblical, orthodox Christian position that homosexual acts are objectively sinful? So you condemn the entire Church for its members who dissent from the rules?
“The icons and idols. Whos the dunce here? I dont belong to any sham religion.”
Ah, I see. I thought the subject was sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. My mistake. Please visit Catholic.Com forums if you want to discuss matters of religion.
Wayne -
Oh I see… so you’re not here with any serious concerns as to the state of the Church and how it should handle things or even of the nature of God’s relationship to men, even sinful ones. You’re taking advantage of the situation of poor abused victims in order to promote your own crusade against religion… How nice, caring, and considerate of you!
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