VATICAN CITY
Manila Times
June 4, 2016
VATICAN CITY: Bishops guilty of “negligence” in dealing with sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church can be dismissed, Pope Francis decreed on Saturday.
The decree quoted the pontiff as saying that such cases would fall under an existing proviso in canon law allowing for prelates to be sacked for “serious reasons.”
“I intend to specify that among these so-called ‘serious reasons’ is the negligence of bishops in the exercise of their functions, especially in cases of sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults,” Francis wrote.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the pope also set up a body of lawyers to assist him in decisions that could require the dismissal of a bishop.
In the decree—an apostolic letter with a status in Latin called “motu proprio” (“on his own impulse”)—the Pope emphasized that the Church “loves all its sons, but cares for and protects with special attention those who are weakest and defenseless.”
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