By Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican Insider
October 2, 2011
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/world-news/detail/articolo/pedofilia-peadophilia-vescovi-bishorps-obispos-abusi-abuse-abusos-8609/
 |
| SNAP'S MEMBERS |
Victims' demands to the bishops include "the obligation to report any news of prosecutable crimes of office" and to promote a law making sexual crime against minors committed by clergy indefeasible
Who should monitor abuse committed by the clergy? The CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference) believes that in every diocese the responsibility necessarily rests with the bishop, while the association of victims of paedophile priests is asking instead for an independent commission with the duty to report. The Italian Episcopal Conference does not consider it advisable to appoint a diocesan responsible for cases of paedophilia in the clergy, said Monsignor Mariano Crociata, Secretary General of the CEI, on Friday during a press conference following a meeting of the Permanent Council of the CEI, in which Italian bishops took into consideration, among other things, some draft guidelines to combat sexual abuse of minors by clerics. "There is no reason per se - even if others have made different choices, which I believe are in keeping with the current regulations - to establish figures of this kind," said Crociata. "The competence belongs to each individual bishop, and it is around the bishop that choices are determined in this matter. Experience confirms the effectiveness of the direct relationship of the bishops in handling these painful and dramatic cases when they arise."
The secretary of the CEI reported that in the meeting of the "small parliament" of bishops, the draft of guidelines requested by the Holy See from all bishops worldwide was examined "and now the comments received will be taken up and reworked in sight of the next Permanent Council meeting for further evaluation and final approval."
Not "empty words and public regret," but the establishment of a joint committee of lawyers, health professionals, specialists, scientists, and victims; the opening of the archives of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and religious bodies; the obligation to report news of a crime. Removal from the clergy. These are the demands of a group of Italian and foreign organizations of victims of paedophile priests, made to the Italian Episcopal Conference, in order to address the problem of child abuse committed by clergy.
The request comes two days after the meeting of the CEI's Permanent Council, which examined a first draft of guidelines against abuse. Among the signatories of the appeal was SNAP International, the organization that has sought to have the International Criminal Court in The Hague summon the Pope to trial, despite Joseph Ratzinger having opposed paedophilia in the clergy more than anyone else. While the CEI prepares guidelines for Italy on how to respond to the crisis of paedophilia in the Church, Italian associations of victims of abuse by clerics are writing to the bishops to request "truth and justice for survivors."
A large coalition of alumni groups from Verona's Provolo Institute for the Deaf, to the victims of Fr. Cantini, from SNAP to Survivors Voice, are calling in particular for the CEI to support the creation of an "independent commission on sexual crimes against minors by Catholic clergy and religious in Italy," as has happened in other European countries. Moreover, the victims are asking the CEI to commit "to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith along with the dioceses, institutions, bodies, congregations and religious communities' making available to the Commission, the judiciary and the public, in compliance with the customary assurance of standards, their archives with all the news of punishable crimes of office regarding sexual abuse of minors by clergy, by male and female religious, even for those crimes that are statute-barred."
Among the victims' demands to the bishops, is "the obligation to report any news of prosecutable crimes of office" and the promotion of a law making sexual crime against minors committed by clergy imprescriptible. The CEI should also impose "removal from the clergy on all those responsible for sexual abuse of minors, though statute-barred, without exception" and the resignation of "all bishops who, although aware of abuses, did not report the news of crimes to the judiciary."
Still today, a cardinal who had hid paedophile priests, former Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, continues to hold important positions in the Vatican and is Archpriest of St. Mary's Major Basilica: the victims are asking for his dismissal. Finally, those who have been abused by priests are asking the CEI "to indemnify or compensate victims spontaneously, in a measure appropriate to the damage suffered," and to promote '"a serious and thorough discussion about why these crimes occur against children in the Catholic Church." "This is because," the victims' appeal concludes, "survivors and victims need truth and justice and not empty words and public regret, that pay only lip service. If you really want to listen to victims and survivors, and act accordingly, all that we are asking for needs to be effectively implemented."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.