Pope Francis reveals new church law to deal with paedophile priests

[rug]

Move to remove Catholic bishops from office if they fail to sack known child abusers is response to demand by victims

Chris Johnston and Rosie Scammell
Saturday 4 June 2016 08.10 EDT

Catholic bishops who fail to sack paedophile priests can be removed from office under new church laws announced by Pope Francis.

The move, announced by the pope on Saturday, answers a long-running demand by victims of abuse to make bishops responsible if they fail to stop clergy sexually abusing parishioners.

Many have long accused bishops of simply moving priests accused of abuse to another parish, rather than report them to police or church authorities.

While acknowledging that church laws already allowed for a bishop to be removed for negligence, Francis said he wanted the “grave reasons” more precisely defined. However, doubts remain about the Vatican’s commitment to tackling the issue.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/04/pope-francis-church-law-paedophile-priests-catholic-bishops

[Callmecrazy]

1. More woo...

Who cares what the Church will do? We have laws in place to handle pedophiles. The victims need to speak up and speak out about their abuse. Put the accused on public trial and if found guilty punish them. It's really very simple. A man wearing a religious collar doesn't have special immunity. Only in the minds of the weak.

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2. That's an asinine remark.

I'll take one minute to tell you why.

The prevalence of child abuse within the Church is statistically the same as outside it. One of the major problems within the Church is its institutional response to it. This goes a long way to treat it decisively, effectively and quickly.

I'll assume you're not aware you're posting this crap in the Catholic and Orthodox Group so I'll leave your idiotic remark about "weak minds" untouched.

[Callmecrazy]

3. We'll have to agree to disagree on this, rug...

Firing or disciplining Bishops for their priests actions may indicate that their was knowledge of the crime and it was not reported to the legal authorities. If the higher-ups knew of it and tried to hide it, they are guilty of conspiracy and should also be jailed. People of the cloth have no special privilege in the eyes of the law. Weak minded people think that religious law has more power than civil law when that is just not true.
Of course this is the interweb and what we say here means nothing.

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4. I don't think there's any doubt many of them knew of it.

That's why this is, in fact, an important step.

Knowing something about civil law, I know this change in Canon Law does not impede any civil or criminal penalty in the least, but does accelerate direct and immediate mechanisms for the removal of those who have covered up these crimes.

I also think that child abuse is one topic where religious bigotry does not belong. It only serves to cover up and distract from a very serious problem.