"Required Step": Pope Announces Changes in Sexual Assault Treatment

Following the sexual exploitation of boys in the Catholic Church, Francis announced a series of changes in the way the church is dealing with the phenomenon. Among other things, the "papal secrecy" was abolished, which was used to cover up senior officials who had committed offenses. Victims of the past have welcomed the move: "real and positive change"

"Required Step": Pope Announces Changes in Sexual Assault Treatment

Pope Francis announced Tuesday a series of changes in the way the Catholic Church is dealing with teen sexual abuse cases, abolishing the "papal secrecy" it had covered in the past.

The two papers published by the Pope backed the policies in some states, especially in the United States, such as reporting suspected sexual assaults to civil authorities, as required by law. The documents, which establish these practices as a universal law of the church, also prohibit the imposition of a silence on anyone who reports sexual abuse or claims to have been the victim of such abuse.

"It's a periodic decision," said Archbishop Charles Sciclone of Malta and the Vatican's most experienced investigator in the field, in an interview with a Vatican radio station. Removing "papal secrecy" in sexual abuse investigations was a key requirement of church leaders, including Sciclone and German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, at a summit held in the Vatican last February.

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Church leaders claimed that confidentiality in cases of sexual abuse of minors was outdated and some church officials were hiding behind it instead of cooperating with authorities. Sciclone said the new provisions open ways to communicate with victims and cooperate with the state.

"Some jurisdictions would have easily cited that confidentiality. To say they couldn't, or they weren't allowed to share information with state authorities or victims," ​​said Skyclone. "Now that obstacle, if you can call it that, has been removed. So papal secrecy cannot be an excuse." One of the documents also defines images of people under the age of 18 as those who can be considered child pornography "for sexual gratification purposes, by any technological means or other."

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Advocates of several victims of church sexual abuse over the years have welcomed the move, saying it was supposed to have happened long ago, but now it has to be widely implemented. Marie Collins, who was sexually abused as a child in Ireland and resigned in frustration from the Pope's commission because of what she saw as the Vatican persecution, welcomed the changes announced by the Pope. She wrote on Twitter that this is "excellent news. Finally a real and positive change".

Ann Barrett-Doyle, associate director of a company that records abuse cases in the United States, said the Pope had taken "a late and desperately needed step," but said that the impact of that move would be determined by how much it was used.
Last year, a Vatican court sentenced a five-year sentence to a Catholic priest for possession of child pornography while in the United States as a diplomat. Last Tuesday, the Pope accepted the resignation of Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the Holy See's ambassador to France, who was accused of sexual harassment.

"A late step and desperately needed"

The changes announced by the Pope come amid scandals and rumors of child sexual abuse by priests, from whom the Catholic Church has been harmed in the last twenty years. Francis vowed to show zero tolerance for criminals, but the victims of the abuse want him to do more and even the bishops who allegedly sought sexual abuse would have to be held accountable.

The two papers published by the pope rewrite portions of the canonical law of the church, a step that the pope has authority to do to update church rules.