abuse – NZ Catholic Newspaper

Pope uplifts secrecy obligation for those who report having been abused

Michael Otto — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 19:52:56 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has abolished the obligation of secrecy for those who report having been sexually abused by a priest and for those who testify in a Church trial or process having to do with clerical sexual abuse.

“The person who files the report, the person who alleges to have been harmed and the witnesses shall not be bound by any obligation of silence with regard to matters involving the case,” the Pope ordered in a new “Instruction On the Confidentiality of Legal Proceedings”, published December 17.

In an accompanying note, Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, said the change regarding the “pontifical secret” has nothing to do with the seal of the sacrament of confession.

“The absolute obligation to observe the sacramental seal,” he said, “is an obligation imposed on the priest by reason of the position he holds in administering the sacrament of confession and not even the penitent can free him of it.”

The instruction was published by the Vatican along with changes to the already-updated “Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela” (“Safeguarding the Sanctity of the Sacraments”), the 2001 document issued by St John Paul II outlining procedures for the investigation and trial of any member of the clergy accused of sexually abusing a child or vulnerable adult or accused of acquiring, possessing or distributing child pornography.

In the first of the amendments, Pope Francis changed the definition of child pornography. Previously the subject was a person under the age of 14. The new description of the crime says, “The acquisition, possession or distribution by a cleric of pornographic images of minors under the age of 18, for purposes of sexual gratification, by whatever means or using whatever technology.”

In describing the procedural norms for how the tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is to be composed and conducted, Pope Francis has removed the requirement that the legal representative of the accused be a priest. The law now reads: “The role of advocate or procurator is carried out by a member of the faithful possessing a doctorate in canon law, who is approved by the presiding judge of the college.”

But the abolition of the pontifical secret over the entire Vatican process is the greatest change made. And, not only are victims and witnesses free to discuss the case, the amended law specifies that the still-in-effect obligation of Vatican officials to maintain confidentiality “shall not prevent the fulfilment of the obligations laid down in all places by civil laws, including any reporting obligations, and the execution of enforceable requests of civil judicial authorities”.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Vatican’s chief abuse investigator, told America Magazine the new law makes clear that “anybody who discloses misconduct or a crime and anybody who is impacted by the misconduct or the crime, and the witnesses, should never be subject to a vow or a promise of silence on the fact that they have reported”.

The new law, he said, explicitly states people’s “moral duty” to cooperate with civil authorities in reporting and investigating the crime of abuse. “Moreover, there is an obligation not to bind people who disclose misconduct or crimes by any promise or vow of silence,” he explained.

In a separate interview with Vatican News, Archbishop Scicluna described as an “epochal change” the Pope’s decision to drop the “pontifical secret” – the highest level of confidentiality. “That means, of course, the question of transparency now is being implemented at the highest level,” he said.

The new rules do not mean that documents from Vatican abuse investigations and trials will be made public, he said, but “they are available for authorities, or people who are interested parties, and authorities who have a statutory jurisdiction over the matter”.

In the past, when a government or court asked the Vatican for information on a case, the response usually was that the material was covered by “pontifical secret”. Now, Archbishop Scicluna said, once “all the formalities of international law” are fulfilled, communication with other authorities “and the sharing of information and documentation are facilitated”.

In September 2017, members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors asked Pope Francis to reconsider Vatican norms maintaining the imposition of “pontifical secret” in the Church’s judicial handling of clerical sex abuse and other grave crimes.

The secret ensures cases are dealt with in strict confidentiality. Vatican experts have said it was designed to protect the dignity of everyone involved, including the victim, the accused, their families and their communities.

But when Pope Francis called the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences to the Vatican for a summit on the abuse crisis in February, victims and experts alike urged a revision of the policy.

Linda Ghisoni, a canon lawyer and undersecretary for laity at the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, told the summit removing the pontifical secret from abuse cases would reverse a situation or the impression of a situation where secrecy “is used to hide problems rather than protect the values at stake”, including the confidentiality of the victims and the right of an accused to a fair trial.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany, told the summit that removing the pontifical secret would promote transparency in a scandal where the lack of transparency has meant “the rights of victims were effectively trampled underfoot and left to the whims of individuals”.

In his commentary, Bishop Arrieta noted that already in May with the publication of “Vos Estis Lux Mundi” (“You are the light of the world”) on procedures for handling allegations of abuse or of the cover-up of abuse, Pope Francis already banned imposing confidentiality agreements on victims.

The bishop also took pains to note that the abolition of absolute secrecy – the “pontifical secret”, which is invoked with an oath – was not the same thing as removing all obligations for confidentiality.

The “secrecy of the office” still applies to Vatican officials and others involved in an investigation or trial of a cleric accused of abuse or of a bishop or religious superior accused of cover-up. Except for sharing information with civil authorities, the basic professional secrecy serves, as the new law says, to protect “the good name, image and privacy of all persons involved”.

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Cardinal John Dew at protection of minors summit at Vatican

Catholic News Service — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 02:44:51 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In an opulent Vatican room designed in the 16th century for papal meetings with kings, a cardinal read, “We confess that we have shielded the guilty and have silenced those who have been harmed”.
“Kyrie, eleison,” (Lord, have mercy) responded Pope Francis and some 190 cardinals, bishops and religious superiors from around the world to the confessions read on their behalf by Cardinal John Dew of Wellington, New Zealand.
After three days of meetings, nine major speeches and heart-breaking testimony from survivors of clerical sexual abuse, participants at the Vatican summit on child protection and the abuse crisis gathered in the Sala Regia (literally, “royal room”) of the Apostolic Palace on February 23 for a penitential liturgy.
Writing on his facebook page on February 23, Cardinal Dew stated: “We have received wonderful input and there has been plenty of time for reflection and discussion on the input in smaller language groups. We have also heard sad and distressing accounts of abuse from victims. We have more input today, a Penitential Service this morning and then conclude tomorrow with Mass with Pope Francis in the Sala Regia. Thank you for your prayers, please keep them going.”
In response to a facebook comment, the cardinal wrote: “It has been a tough week, but one that absolutely needed to be faced, there have been some great presentations, now we have to put it into practice.”
The centrepiece of the penitential liturgy was the reading of the story of the prodigal son or, as the Vatican termed it, “the merciful father” from Luke 15:11-32 and a long “examination of conscience” that asked the bishops as individuals and as presidents of bishops’ conferences to be honest about what they have done and what they have failed to do to protect children, support survivors and deal with abusive priests.
While Pope Francis presided at the penitential service as part of the Vatican summit on child protection and ending clerical sexual abuse, Archbishop Philip Naameh of Tamale, Ghana, gave the homily.
He told the Pope and his brother bishops that they all preach often about the parable of the prodigal son, encouraging their people to return to God and seek forgiveness.
But, he said, “we readily forget to apply this Scripture to ourselves, to see ourselves as we are, namely as prodigal sons. Just like the prodigal son in the Gospel, we have also demanded our inheritance, got it, and now we are busy squandering it.”
“The current abuse crisis is an expression of this,” Archbishop Naameh said.
“Too often we have kept quiet, looked the other way, avoided conflicts,” he said, adding that the bishops were often “too smug” to confront “the dark sides of our Church”.
Failing to act, he said, they “squandered the trust placed in us”.
And, claiming brotherhood in the College of Bishops, he said, even those bishops who have not had to deal directly with an allegation of abuse against a priest in their diocese share the responsibility of having failed to act.
In the Gospel story, the archbishop said, the first step toward receiving the forgiveness of the merciful father is for the prodigal son “to be very humble, to perform very simple tasks and not to demand any privileges”.
Like the prodigal son, the bishops must recognise their mistakes, confess their sins, speak openly about them and be “ready to accept the consequences”, Archbishop Naameh said.
A survivor of abuse also spoke, calmly and softly telling the Pope and bishops that as a victim, “what you carry within you is like a ghost that others cannot see. They will never see you nor completely know you”.
The memory of the abuse is always there, said the man, who was not identified. “There is no dream without the memory of what happened. No day without memories, no day without flashbacks.”
“I try to concentrate on my divine right to be alive. I can and should be here,” he said, choking up. “This gives me value. Now it is over and I can continue forward, I have to go forward.”
He went forward by picking up a violin and playing an instrumental piece for the group. Then, since it was a liturgy, he walked down the central aisle in silence.
During the liturgy, summit participants were asked to meditate on how they and the Church in their countries have “responded to those who have experienced the abuse of power, of conscience and sexual abuse” and to consider “what obstacles have we put in their way?”
They were asked how they treated bishops, priests and deacons accused of abuse and how they dealt with those who were found guilty.
The examination of conscience continued, looking at how the bishops and religious superiors reached out to or failed to reach out to the communities where guilty clerics served and examining the steps taken to ensure that in the present and future children are safe in Church institutions.
After a litany of “we confess” to failures to act, the Pope and summit participants prayed “for the grace to overcome injustice and to practice justice for the people entrusted to our care”.

(Photo: Catholic News Service).

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Time for all-out battle against crime of abuse says Pope

Catholic News Service — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 00:16:45 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The time has come for an “all-out battle” against the abuse of minors, erasing this abominable crime from the face of the earth, Pope Francis said, closing a global four-day summit on child protection in the Catholic Church.
For quite some time, the world has been aware of the “serious scandal” the abuse of minors by clergy has brought to the Church and public opinion, both because of the dramatic suffering it has caused victims and because of the “unjustifiable negligence” and “cover-up” by leaders in the Church, he told people gathered in St Peter’s Square.
Since the problem is present on every continent, the Pope said he called leaders of the world’s bishops and religious superiors to Rome because “I wanted us to face it together in a co-responsible and collegial way,” he said after praying the Angelus on February 24.
“We listened to the voice of victims, we prayed and asked for forgiveness from God and the people hurt, we took stock of our responsibility, and our duty to bring justice through truth and to radically reject every form” of sexual abuse and the abuse of power and conscience, he said.
“We want every activity and every place in the Church to be completely safe for minors,” he said, which means taking every possible measure so that such crimes never happen again.
It will also entail working with great dedication together with people of good will everywhere in order to fight this “very grave scourge of violence” that affects hundreds of millions of minors around the world.
The Pope’s noonday summary of what he called a “very important” meeting came after he delivered his closing remarks at the end of Mass on February 24.
Surrounded by the ornate frescoed walls and ceiling of the Sala Regia, the Pope told some 190 cardinals, bishops and religious superiors from around the world, “the time has come, then, to work together to eradicate this evil from the body of our humanity by adopting every necessary measure already in force on the international level and ecclesial levels”. However, despite the importance of knowing the sociological and psychological explanations behind this criminal act of abuse, he said, the Church must recognise this is a spiritual battle against the “brazen, aggressive, destructive” power of Satan.
“I see the hand of evil that does not spare even the innocence of the little ones. And this leads me to think of the example of Herod who, driven by fear of losing his power, ordered the slaughter of all the children of Bethlehem,” the Pope said.
Just as the pagans once sacrificed children on their altars, such cruelty continues today with an “idolatrous sacrifice of children to the god of power, money, pride and arrogance”, he said.
While the majority of abused minors are victims of a person they know, most often a family member, he said, it is “all the more grave and scandalous” when a member of the Church, particularly a priest, is the perpetrator “for it is utterly incompatible” with the Church’s moral authority and ethical credibility.
“Consecrated persons, chosen by God to guide souls to salvation, let themselves be dominated by their human frailty or sickness and thus become tools of Satan,” he said.
There is no excuse for abusing children, who are an image of Jesus, he said, which is why it has become increasingly obvious “the gravest cases of abuse” must be disciplined and dealt with “civil and canonical processes”.
“Here again I would state clearly: if in the Church there should emerge even a single case of abuse – which already in itself represents an atrocity – that case will be faced with the utmost seriousness.” In fact, he said, the Church should recognise that people’s anger over the mishandling of abuse is nothing other than a reflection of “the wrath of God, betrayed and insulted by these deceitful consecrated persons.”
“The echo of the silent cry of the little ones who, instead of finding in them fathers and spiritual guides, encountered tormentors will shake hearts dulled by hypocrisy and by power,” Pope Francis said. “It is our duty to pay close heed to this silent, choked cry.”
The Church must combat this evil, both inside and outside its walls, he said, and protect children “from ravenous wolves”.
The Catholic Church must “hear, watch over, protect and care for abused, exploited and forgotten children, wherever they are”, he said. And to do that, the Church “must rise above the ideological disputes and journalistic practices that often exploit, for various interests, the very tragedy experienced by the little ones”.
Because concrete measures will need to be adopted on a local level, the Pope pointed to the work of international organisations in their “Seven Strategies for Ending Violence against Children” and guidelines and other resources produced by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
The Church, he said, must concentrate on the protection of children, being serious in bringing justice and healing to victims and undergoing genuine purification; proper training for priests and religious is necessary, as are strong guidelines by bishops’ conferences.
The Pope urged all Catholics to help the Church be liberated “from the plague of clericalism, which is the fertile ground for all these disgraces”.
“The best results and the most effective resolution,” he said, will occur when the Church commits itself to “personal and collective conversion, the humility of learning, listening, assisting and protecting the most vulnerable”.
On behalf of the whole Church, the Pope also thanked “the vast majority of priests who are not only faithful to their celibacy, but spend themselves in a ministry today made even more difficult by the scandals of few – but always too many – of their confreres.”
He also thanked the faithful who recognise the goodness of their ministers and pray for and support them.
“I make a heartfelt appeal for an all-out battle against the abuse of minors both sexually and in other areas, on the part of all authorities and individuals, for we are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth,” he said.

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Measures flowing from protection of minors summit are imminent says moderator

Catholic News Service — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 00:11:07 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – While the four-day Vatican summit on the protection of minors has ended, the work to ensure that laws and concrete actions are in place is just beginning, said Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi.
During a press briefing on February 24, Fr Lombardi, who served as moderator of the February 21-24 summit, said Pope Francis will soon publish a new set of laws and guidelines concerning child protection for Vatican City State.
The measures, he said, will be issued “motu proprio”, on the Pope’s own accord, and will be “presented and published in the near future”.
Another initiative that will be available in “a few weeks or a month or two” is a handbook or vademecum for bishops, prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Fr Lombardi told journalists that the handbook will list a set of guidelines and “will help bishops around the world clearly understand their duties and tasks” when handling cases of abuse. He said the Pope also wants to amend the current law concerning the crime of a cleric acquiring, possessing or distributing pornographic images of minors by extending the age from 14 years old to include young people under the age of 18.
Lastly, Pope Francis has also expressed his intention to establish task forces “made up of competent persons” that will assist dioceses and episcopal conferences “that find it difficult to confront the problems and produce initiatives for the protection of minors”, especially when they lack the needed resources and skilled personnel.
Meanwhile, a number of survivors and advocacy groups were disappointed the Pope and the Vatican did not go further with more direct mandates, especially in ordering bishops to implement what laws already exist.
Peter Isely, spokesman for the Ending Clergy Abuse coalition, said he wished the Pope had told bishops to remove known abusers from public ministry immediately in order “to keep them from harming children. That’s pretty simple”.
Also, just as the Pope had recently revised the catechism concerning the inadmissibility of the death penalty, Isely said the Pope could have changed canon law to include zero tolerance for abusers and those who protect them.
Miguel Hurtado, a survivor from Spain, told CNS that the Church still needs a clear mechanism or process for bishop accountability and making public the dismissal of a leader for negligence.
“This is what changes the hearts and minds,” he said, “is seeing a colleague lose his job.”
“Why don’t we see bishops ordaining women? Because they know it is a red line and they will be excommunicated if they cross it. Covering up child rape is not a red line” if there are no clear and serious consequences that go with it, he said.
Hurtado said if the Church fails to police itself, “what will prevent another crisis are the external checks and balances” of media outlets doing accurate investigative reporting, the trend of child victims speaking out sooner, and civil laws abolishing the statute of limitations on the abuse of minors.
Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org said in a press statement that the summit was only a failure in terms of needed internal reforms.
“But in a larger sense, it achieved a great deal” by increasing global awareness of clergy sex abuse and facilitating “connections between journalists and survivors from many countries”, she said.
“This was public education on a massive scale,” Doyle said.
In a statement provided to CNS, a group of US women from Catholic Worker, who were in Rome for the summit, supported “Pope Francis placing the spotlight on the global sexual abuse. This is good and crucial”.
“As Catholic Workers, people who have seen violence in so many forms, we resonate with his understanding that abuse of power is the root cause of the problem here,” it said.
“But where are the concrete processes to guide the bishops in assuring accountability, transparency, and responsibility upon their return?”
As Pope Francis “recognised that the outrage on the street with regard to sex abuse reflected the ‘wrath of God’,” the Catholic Workers’ statement said, there is the continued mission for all people of God: “to be that ‘wrath’ until the violence of clergy sex abuse and cover-up is eradicated”.

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Include Church in abuse inquiry – Bishops

NZ Catholic Staff — Sun, 29 Apr 2018 23:58:12 +0000

New Zealand’s Catholic bishops and representation from Catholic religious orders have written to the Prime Minister and others requesting that a royal commission into historical abuse in state care be broadened to include abuse in religious institutions. The letter, sent last month, was addressed to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the Minister for Children, Tracey Martin,

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