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.
One of Pope Francis' key advisors on clergy sexual abuse also criticized Vos estis' broad definition of a "vulnerable person" who could be at risk of abuse. He said the definition was "not helpful" because it is "so broad" as to include a wide range of people. "Do you really want to be a 'vulnerable person' because you are a woman and because you are a parishioner? I don't think so." Vos estis defines a "vulnerable person" as "any person in a state of infirmity, physical or mental deficiency, or deprivation of personal liberty which, in fact, even occasionally, limits their ability to understand or to want or otherwise resist" an abuse.
"Priests and bishops will go to jail rather than break the seal of confession," the Bishop said. "I'm confident that the priests in this diocese and my brother bishops would do that, so sacred is that bond." For Catholic priests, the seal of confession is nonnegotiable, Daly explained, noting that most secular institutions have tended to recognize the importance of the confessional seal and respected it.