BishopAccountability.org
	Vatican Guides Bishops on Combating Sexual Abuse by Clergy Monsters and Critics May 16, 2011 http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1639391.php/Vatican-guides-bishops-on-combating-sexual-abuse-by-clergy Vatican City - The Vatican said Monday it has instructed bishops dealing with cases of sexual abuse of minors by clergy to give priority to the needs of the victims and reiterated the need for perpetrators to be reported to civil authorities. The recommendations are contained in a circular letter sent in recent days to bishops around the world by the Catholic Church's top body on moral disciplinary matters, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the Vatican said. Conferences of Bishops from each nation where the Catholic Church is represented, must, by May 2012, compile a set of guidelines on how to implement stricter norms governing sexual abuse adopted by the Vatican last July, the letter said. The norms came in the wake of widespread revelations - including in the US, Ireland, Brazil and Pope Benedict XVI's native Germany - of scores of cases where minors were sexually molested by priests and other clergy at Church-run institutions and parishes. The norms introduced an accelerated process to defrock predator priests, opened up participation in church tribunals on sex abuse cases to non-priests, extended the statute of limitations for sex abuse cases from 10 to 20 years, and branded the possession of child pornography as a 'grave crime.' However, the norms were described as inadequate by some groups representing victims of clerical abuse. Such groups including the US-based SNAP have accused top Catholic clergy of deceiving or stonewalling law enforcement officials, and allowing known predator priests to continue operating in church office unsupervised. In the circular letter announced Monday, the CDF said it was stressing the importance for Conferences of Bishops to give special attention to developing prevention programmes 'to create truly safe environments for children.' In dealing with victims of alleged abuse crimes and their families, the letter urged bishops to listen to them and to show 'a commitment to their spiritual and psychological assistance.' Bishops are instructed to 'take due account of the civil laws of the country, including any obligation to notify the civil authorities,' regarding the alleged crimes and their perpetrators. Bishops should also 'exclude the (predator) cleric's return to public ministry, in case of danger to minors or of scandal to the community,' the Vatican said. The CDF's circular letter comes as the sex abuse scandal continues to shake the Catholic Church. On Sunday Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco - the archbishop of Genoa who also heads Italy's bishops conference - in a message read during mass, informed parishioners in a Genoa suburb that their longtime pastor has been jailed for investigation of pedophilia and giving drugs to a minor. Italian news reports said Father Riccardo Seppia was arrested Friday night on charges of abusing a 16-year-old boy and giving him cocaine. Bagnasco told parishioners Seppia was suspended from all priestly duties. Earlier this month Canadian bishop Raymond Lahey admitted in court to possession of child pornography while in April disgraced Belgian bishop Roger Vangheluwe in a TV interview indicated he had abused two child nephews, but insisted he did not consider himself a paedophile. The Vatican has indicated that both men, who have resigned as bishops, may yet face serious sanctions in terms of canonical or Church law.
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