Pope Francis abolished the "pontifical secret" on cases of sexual abuse committed by clerics on minors. It is the effect of the Rescriptum ex audientia published today with which an Instruction "On the confidentiality of causes" is promulgated. Article 1 states that "complaints, trials and decisions regarding crimes" concerning child abuse are not covered by pontifical secrecy, in the Motu proprio "Vos estis lux mundi" and in the rules "de gravioribus delictis ". The Pope also established that the crime of child pornography exists until the subjects taken up in the images are 18 years old, and not just 14 as it was up to now. It is the effect of a Rescriptum ex audientia published today with some modifications to the "Normae de gravioribus delictis". The other change concerns the abolition of the rule according to which the role of lawyer and prosecutor, in the cases for abuses in the diocesan tribunals and Doctrine of the faith, had to be fulfilled by a priest. Now he can be a layman.
The new Instruction also provides, in Article 2, that "the exclusion of the pontifical secret also exists when these crimes have been committed in conjunction with other crimes". Article 3 specifies that "in the cases referred to in point 1, the information is treated in such a way as to guarantee its security, integrity and confidentiality pursuant to canons 471, 2 ° CIC and 244 õ2, 2nd CCEO, to order to protect the good reputation, the image and the private sphere of all the people involved ": in substance, the subjection of these crimes to the" pontifical secret "is made to regress to the simple" official secret "provided for the protection of good fame of the people involved. In any case, according to article 4, "official secrecy does not prevent the fulfillment of the obligations established in each place by state laws, including any reporting obligations, as well as the execution of executive requests by civil judicial authorities" . This will lead to a better collaboration with the magistrates of the various States and also an easier fulfillment of the "obligation to report" by the superiors in cases of abuse, already provided for by the other regulations introduced by Pope Francis.
"To the person making the report, to the person who claims to have been offended and to the witnesses", finally foresees the article 5, "no constraint of silence can be imposed regarding the facts of the case".
Pope Francis accepted the renunciation of the post of apostolic nuncio in France, presented by Monsignor Luigi Ventura. Archbishop Ventura, 75 years old on December 9, nuncio in Paris since 2009, is under investigation by the French judiciary for sexual harassment . To start the investigation, the complaints of a couple of young officials from the Paris city hall. According to the victims the assaults occurred even during official ceremonies at the Hotel de Ville.
