From: Mermaid . (britannica@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Jan 09 2002 - 19:21:10 MST
<snip>
They state that suspected cases should immediately be reported to Rome, so
the Vatican can determine the course of action - although they do not
outline what could happen to those found guilty or whether civil authorities
should be told.
<snip>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1749000/1749911.stm
Vatican acts on paedophile priests
The Roman Catholic Church has published guidelines for its senior clergy on
how to handle cases of child abuse by priests.
The guidelines, written in Latin, were issued last year, but only published
on Tuesday as part of the Acts of the Apostolic See, the Vatican's official
legislation record.
They state that suspected cases should immediately be reported to Rome, so
the Vatican can determine the course of action - although they do not
outline what could happen to those found guilty or whether civil authorities
should be told.
In recent high-profile scandals, courts in France and the US found senior
Roman Catholic clergy guilty of covering up child abuse by priests.
Investigation
Accompanying the guidelines was a letter from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,
leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - which deals with
matters of faith and morals
"With this letter, we hope that not only will these serious crimes be
avoided, but, above all, that the holiness of the clergy and the faithful be
protected," it said.
The document said bishops and heads of religious orders must inform Rome if
they discover "even a hint" of paedophilia by a priest and launch an
investigation.
Clergymen involved in sexual abuse cases will then go before either a local
ecclesiastical court or the Vatican Congregation itself which will be the
appeal court in either case.
The hearing will all be held in secret.
As a result, the Vatican will control the problem directly, instead of it
being left in the domain of national churches.
Hidden truth
In recent years, the Roman Catholic Church has been hit by a number of
scandals involving paedophile priests.
Last September, a French court handed down a three-month suspended jail term
to the Bishop of Bayeaux for failing to inform police that a priest in his
diocese had admitted sexual abuse.
And two years ago the Catholic diocese of Dallas in Texas was found to have
concealed a priest's sexual abuse of boys.
The victims were awarded $119.6m in damages - then the largest award given
in a sexual abuse case.
In November 2001, the first ever e-mail sent by the Pope over the Internet
was a 120-page document which contained apologies to victims of sexual abuse
by clergy members.
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