Vatican Says Catholic Priests Suspected of Abuse Should Always Be Reported, Nick Squires, Telegraph, April 12, 2010

Vatican Says Catholic Priests Suspected of Abuse Should "Always" Be Reported

By Nick Squires
Telegraph
April 12, 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/7582970/Vatican-says-Catholic-priests-suspected-of-abuse-should-always-be-reported.html

Pope Benedict XVI has faced allegations that he failed to act decisively enough against paedophile priests.
Photo by Osservatore Romano

Catholic priests suspected of abusing children should "always" be reported to the police and face justice in the courts, the Vatican has said.

In the latest sign that the Holy See is striving to respond to the worldwide sex abuse crisis rocking the Catholic Church, the Vatican published on its website its guidelines for handling predator priests.

"Civil law concerning reporting of crimes to the appropriate authorities should always be followed," the Vatican stressed, in an apparent attempt to deflect criticism that it has been secretive and defensive over the issue.

The guidelines stated that "in very grave cases where a civil criminal trial has found the cleric guilty of sexual abuse of minors or where the evidence is overwhelming," the Pope can defrock the priest.

The rules have been in operation since 2003, when they were set down in an internal document by the Vatican's doctrinal enforcement department, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, of which the future Pope Benedict XVI was head until 2005.

The fact that the Vatican chose to publish them online, in English, was interpreted as an attempt to show greater transparency and accountability over the issue.

The Church has been shaken in recent weeks by paedophilia scandals in Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, the US and the Pope's homeland, Germany.

The pontiff, who turns 83 on Friday, has himself faced allegations that he failed to act decisively enough against paedophile priests when he was the archbishop of Munich in the early 1980s and then when he led the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.