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	Bishops Not Obliged to Report Sexual Abuse by Priests - Curia Defends Church Decision By Stephen Calleja Malta Independent August 22 2010 http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=110325 The Maltese Curia finds it “strange” that the non-acceptance of calls making it mandatory for bishops to report sexual abuse by priests to the police has been interpreted as being a way for the Church to protect clerics who committed sex crimes. “I do not believe that these calls were ignored,” a spokesman for the Curia’s Communications Office told The Malta Independent on Sunday. “They were not accepted. It is very strange to interpret this as the Church protecting clerics who abuse. The Church’s investigating team informs the person who puts forward the accusation that s/he can go and report the same case to the police. “It is at the discretion of the victim or legal guardian to go or not to go to the police. Church authorities respect the decision of victims and legal guardians. One must, at least, consider that mandatory reporting, with all the good intentions involved, would create a situation where victims who do not want to go to the police, would also keep back from going to Church authorities with the result that the abuser continues abusing without being reported to any authority.” The Curia was asked for its comments following the publication of a new set of norms to respond to worldwide clerical abuse scandals. The norms are aimed to crack down on priests who rape, molest or sexually abuse minors. The new norms extend the statue of limitations on priestly abuse from 10 to 20 years and also codify, for the first time, that possession or distribution of child pornography as a canonical crime. The document made no mention of the need for bishops to report abuse to the police when such a case is brought to their attention. The norms were the first major reaction made by the Church since clerical abuses were reported in various countries, including Malta, over the past year. The Church’s internal justice system came under fire as victims claimed that their accusations were ignored and bishops were more concerned about protecting the individual priests and the Church. Asked whether these norms were “too little, too late”, considering the number of scandals that keep erupting across the globe, the spokesman said that this is definitely not so. “Measures contemplated in the 2002 document of the Holy See were very drastic with regard to perpetrators. It would perhaps be more appropriate for those who say ‘too little, too late’ to give concrete reasons (why they think so).” Was it enough to extend the statute of limitations? Shouldn’t the Church take a more drastic approach to clerics by defrocking them if they are found guilty of abusing children? “The 2002 directives already stated that the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith had the authority to abrogate the 10-year limitation imposed by Canon Law in general cases and this was often done. The new directive has changed the 10-year period to 20 years and at the same time the Congregation has the same authority to abrogate the 20-year period. “In simple terms, this means that whenever sexual abuse has been allegedly committed by a cleric on a minor, the Congregation can decide that it be investigated. Like in all penal cases, the law states that a range of penalties can be imposed on the person who is found guilty; it depends on the circumstances of the case and it is at the discretion of the judge to apply the law.” Asked whether the rules will be enough to help the Church deal with reports of sexual abuse by priests more speedily than it has done so far, the spokesman said, “I hope that the answer is yes. One must keep in mind that a lot of different factors are involved: availability of personnel, complication of the case, cooperation of witnesses, etc.” Do you think that justice can ever be done with people who were sexually abused by priests when they were minors? “It depends on what you mean by ‘justice’. Justice in the legal sense yes. If you mean ‘justice’ in the sense that the victim is completely restored to one’s original condition, I do not think so,” the spokesman said. Malta has not been spared its share of sexual abuse by priests. A number of people have made serious accusations about priests who sexually abused them when they were under their care, and there are court cases dealing with these incidents. Some of the men who were abused by priests had a private meeting with Pope Benedict XVI when he visited Malta in April. Asked what kind of follow-up there was after that meeting, the spokesman said “information on individual cases cannot be made public”. scalleja@independent.com.mt
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