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July-9-2010
Revised Vatican Norms to Cover Sex
Abuse, Attempted Women's Ordination
By John Thavis
Catholic
News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican is
preparing to update the 2001 norms that deal with priestly sex abuse of minors,
in effect codifying practices that have been in place for several years.
At the same time, it will include the "attempted ordination of women"
among the list of most serious crimes against church law, or "delicta
graviora," sources said.
Sexual abuse of a minor by a priest was added to the classification of
"delicta graviora" in 2001. At that time the Vatican established
norms to govern the handling of such cases.
The revisions of those norms have been in the pipeline for some time and were
expected to be published in mid-July, Vatican sources said. While the changes
are not "earthshaking," they will ultimately strengthen the church's
efforts to identify and discipline priests who abuse minors, the sources said.
The revisions will be published with ample documentation and will be
accompanied by a glossary of church law terms, aimed at helping nonexperts
understand the complex rules and procedures that the Vatican has in place for
dealing with sex abuse allegations.
The revisions were expected to extend the church law's statute of limitations
on accusations of sexual abuse, from 10 years after the alleged victim's 18th
birthday to 20 years. For several years, Vatican officials have been routinely
granting exceptions to the 10-year statute of limitations.
The revisions also make it clear that use of child pornography would fall under
the category of clerical sexual abuse of minors. In 2009, the Vatican
determined that any instance of a priest downloading child pornography from the
Internet would be a form of serious abuse that a bishop must report to the
doctrinal congregation, which oversees cases of sexual abuse.
In addition, the revisions will make clear that abuse of mentally disabled
adults will be considered equivalent to abuse of minors. In the law on the
sexual abuse of minors, the term "minors" will include "persons
of who suffer from permanent mental disability," sources said.
When Pope John Paul II promulgated the norms on priestly sex abuse in 2001, he
gave the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith juridical control over such
cases.
The revisions incorporate changes made by Pope John Paul in 2003; those
simplified some of the procedures and gave the doctrinal congregation the
power, in some "very grave and clear cases," to laicize without an
ecclesiastical trial priests who have sexually abused minors.
In April, the Vatican placed online a guide to understanding the church's provisions
for sex abuse cases. That guide mentioned the revisions under preparation and
said those revisions would not change the basic procedures already in place.
The sources said the Vatican was not preparing to publish other documents on
priestly sex abuse. Although some have argued that some of the strict sex abuse
norms adopted by U.S. bishops in 2002 should be universalized, the sources said
there was no imminent plan to do that.
Pope John Paul's 2001 document distinguished between two types of "most
grave crimes," those committed in the celebration of the sacraments and
those committed against morals. Among the sacramental crimes were such things
as desecration of the Eucharist and violation of the seal of confession.
Under the new revisions, the "attempted ordination of women" will be
listed among those crimes, as a serious violation of the sacrament of holy
orders, informed sources said. As such, it will be handled under the procedures
set up for investigating "delicta graviora" under the control of the
doctrinal congregation.
In 2008, the doctrinal congregation formally decreed that a woman who attempts
to be ordained a Catholic priest and the person attempting to ordain her are
automatically excommunicated. In 1994, Pope John Paul said the church's ban on
women priests is definitive and not open to debate among Catholics.
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