The scheme, announced by the Bishop’s Conference of France on Wednesday, will allow easier identification of priests able to lead mass and hear confessions. Cards will feature a QR code, scannable by mobile phone, that will flag a red, orange or green light depending on whether its holder had been stripped of clerical status. But it also aims at protecting worshippers from sexual abuse. The system is designed to support existing paper documents used by the Catholic church in France as it tries to clamp down on sex abuse in its ranks.

Francis explained that a sexual predator was to be condemned, “but as a brother” still deserving of love and care. “Even talking to the abuser involves revulsion; it’s not easy. But they are God’s children too. They deserve punishment, but they also deserve pastoral care. How do we provide that? No, it is not easy. The Gospel asks us to love, but how do we love at the same time people who have experienced abuse and their abusers?”

From the ordinary life of a diocese in its parishes and seminary, to the training of catechists, teachers and other pastoral workers, the importance of safeguarding minors and vulnerable persons must be the rule for everyone. In this regard, in religious and apostolic life, even cloistered novices must adhere to the same ministerial standards as their elderly brothers and sisters who spent a lifetime teaching the young. The principles of respect for the dignity of all, for right conduct and a sound way of life must become a universal rule, independent of people’s culture or economic and social condition.

The bill, which would have added clergy to the state’s list of mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect, ran into a sticking point. Catholic lobbyists — and a majority of state senators — wanted to carve out an exemption for priests if they learned of abuse or neglect through a confession, which is viewed as sacred within the Catholic Church.

Many accused priests never get a trial, “period end of story.” Nevertheless, their lives are thrown into turmoil, beyond any doubt. With no forum to clear their names, and in spite of repeated and consistent denials of the charge — and the lack of any criminal proceedings or any record from a related civil trial — isn’t it at least possible that some clerics simply despair of ever clearing their names and just decide to move on with their lives as best they can? Catholics should be very wary of making judgments about their fellow human beings.

At Calvary, Jesus, in the fullest and most ultimately comprehensive sense of the word, accomplishes the restoration of right relationship between fallen humanity and the Triune God. The Bible’s justice . . . involves generosity mercy, solicitude for the poor and the stranger, hospitality, and sacrificial love, and, towards past wrongs, love for enemies and reconciliation, all of which involve giving to others in excess of what they are owed, have a right to, or had coming to them. The justice demanded by the crisis of clergy sexual abuse can be no other than Eucharistic justice.

Police investigators took their time, 19 months, before closing a sexual assault allegation against a Catholic priest as “unfounded” on Wednesday. There will be no charges filed against Father. The investigation, conducted with the assistance of the District Attorney’s Office and the FBI, began in September 2021 with an accusation of sexual assault against the priest regarding what was reported as a series of up to 300 incidents between 2004 and 2008, allegedly involving a juvenile victim. “We had to get records collections from agencies, including medical records, and that involves a process and patience. It came together, it took time, but we needed everything before we could make our conclusion.”

Accuser “John Doe” claimed in court documents that as a young boy he had been sexually assaulted multiple times. Memories of the abuse were repressed until 2020, according to court documents, when Doe filed a lawsuit against a former priest and the Archdiocese, seeking monetary damages. Except the entire story was later proven in court to be a fabrication, seemingly in an attempt to get a settlement. Experts say the fallout can hurt real sex abuse victims as well as innocent clergy members, who often live in fear of one day standing falsely accused.

The debate among experts over which adults are vulnerable, and how vulnerable they are, has continued. Fr. Hans Zollner, SJ, has repeatedly indicated that he believes the definition of vulnerable adult in Vos estis to be unworkable, and even unhelpfully broad. He has publicly questioned an overbroad application of the term and highlighted how it detracts from sound application of the law. After years of effort, and countless pieces of papal legislation, it seems likely that the Church’s application of its own reforms will always be, at best, incoherent.

The Vatican has for the first time handed over to a Polish court the case files of an accused priest on trial for child sex abuse. The Vatican handed the 200 pages of documents over to the embassy, which the attorney called "precedent-setting". The files pertain to ecclesiastical proceedings against the accused priest, which include his written confession of guilt and a subsequent decree removing him from the clergy, along with witness statements.

There are complexities because the Catholic Church operates under both canon and civil law. Under the civil law of their various states, many U.S. dioceses are registered as an entity known as "corporation sole," which enables bishops to oversee diocesan property and finances, and smoothly transfer that authority to successors. The concept was developed under Roman law, which "quickly recognized the emperor didn't really own the buildings; the empire did". Dioceses are increasingly moving away from the corporation sole structure, encouraging parishes to incorporate -- a trend that aligns church entities' status in civil law more closely with canon law.

“The seal offers victims a safe, secure and watertight place where they can be listened to without cost, where they can remain anonymous, and can decide what they’re ready, and not ready, to share – and all of this in complete confidence,” a spokesperson for a group of abuse survivors in Australia. “The confessional seal as it presently stands literally saves lives and offers every abuse victim the chance to begin to heal,” he said, adding that “the government’s bill threatens this safe space; it destroys hope and will lead to more suicides.”

The Bishop has issued a ban on the use of so-called hookup apps for all diocesan clergy. The new law creates the legal option for the bishop to “punish with a just penalty according to the gravity of the offense" any clergy incardinated in the diocese or otherwise present in the diocese who creates an account or uses a digital platform or social network, even not specifically a hookup app, for solicitation, grooming, pornography and/or sharing of such material on social media as ways of facilitating or establishing contact for the purpose of violating the sixth commandment of the Decalogue with an adult.

“I am very pleased to see the right to reputation is now specifically mentioned, along with respect for the presumption of innocence, in Article 5 §2 and Article 13 §7. But the proof will be in the pudding,” Mazza wrote in correspondence on Sunday. “It will be interesting to see if this very clear direction from the Holy See will have an impact on the odious — but very common — practice in the USA of publishing the names of “credibly accused” clerics before any penal process has occurred. This is often done in the name of “transparency,” but it wreaks an unjust, serious, and lasting harm to the reputation of accused clerics.”

The Archdiocese Independent Review Board, its Office of Child Abuse Investigation and Review, and outside investigators found "insufficient reason to suspect Father was guilty" of the sexual abuse allegation, church officials said Tuesday. Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, wrote that he accepted the investigation findings and will reinstate Father Guzman, "effective immediately. At the same time, we must keep our commitment to do everything possible to restore Fr. Guzman's good name."

“It’s important to remember that Oblates take a vow of poverty – where they own nothing as individuals and share everything in common. As part of this commitment, they are provided with basic supports in retirement, even if they have been removed from active ministry. Basic supports include legal representation, in the interest of ensuring a fair trial. We recognize that this may be unsettling to some and want to be clear that we make no assumption of innocence in fulfilling our obligations.”

“Taking cash directly from the weekly collection and poor box, coercing vulnerable elderly parishioners (primarily widowed females) to gift money to the parish or to the priest personally under false pretenses, diverting checks payable to the parish into non-parish accounts, and improper reimbursement of personal expenses and using secret bank accounts in the church’s name as a slush fund.” The report noted that canon law “still gives the pastor sole control over the parish assets, even though he is obligated to use it for the good of the parish. Thus, a pastor can unilaterally open bank accounts, disperse funds, and sell assets. Parish councils consisting of volunteer parishioners tend to provide ceremonial oversight, often rubber stamping the acts of a priest who most consider a person beyond suspicion."

The secretive effort was the work of a Denver nonprofit: “to provide this information privately to Church officials in the hopes that they would discipline or remove those found to be using these technologies to violate their clerical vows and possibly bring scandal to the Church.” Some bishops felt pressure from the group to take action. Others want to use the data to work behind the scenes, to monitor the priests, perhaps confronting them without saying how their app use was known, or maybe keeping such men from rising in the Church. “It’s the first needle-in-a-haystack case, where someone sifts through millions of locations in apps and looks for one person and then tries to use that info to impeach them,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

As a member of the Discipline Section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican for 11 years, Father said that the English translation of the Code of Canon Law fails to convey the gravity of the matter when a priest who violates the seal of confession. The original Latin of the text uses the word “nefas,” a rarely used word in the Code, which translates as “abomination,” “atrocity,” or “wickedness.” “There is no moment in which [the faithful] are more spiritually vulnerable than in the act of confession, when we take our deepest secrets and lay them bare before the priest, who represents Christ. It is a moment of supreme spiritual intimacy.”

The insurance carrier for a Roman Catholic Diocese filed a lawsuit Friday contending that because the diocese violated the terms of its insurance policies, the company should not have to pay out any money to settle claims from hundreds of people alleging they were victims of sexual abuse by clergy over the last several decades. The lawsuit was filed in federal court by Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America, the insurance provider for several Catholic dioceses. The company wants a judge to order that it has no duty to “defend or indemnify” the diocese or any parish against claims of sexual abuse.