VATICAN CITY
Deutsche Welle
The Vatican is establishing a way to remove bishops for showing “negligence” in handling child abuse, according to a new decree by Pope Francis. Abuse victims have long accused bishops of covering up pedophilia cases.
The pope urged bishops to pay special care to protecting the “weakest among their flock” in a decree published on Saturday.
In the letter, Pope Francis announced new procedures to fire high-ranking priests “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 in a letter titled “motu proprio” (“on his own impulse” in Latin). …
Victims criticize new rules
Commenting on the decree, victims’ groups said they were “extraordinarily skeptical” that the procedure would lead to a wave of bishops losing their jobs.
“Instead of just sacking bad bishops, or turning over abuse records to law enforcement, the Vatican is setting up yet another untested, internal church ‘process’ to purportedly deal with bishops who ignore or conceal child sex crimes,” said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
“A ‘process’ is helpful only if it’s used often enough to deter wrongdoing. We doubt this one will be,” he added.
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