Pope Francis Rejigs Sex Law, Widens Scope
Pope Francis has expanded cathic church sex law to include restitution for adults sexually by senior churchmen-Lay and Clerics.
Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, on Saturday jigged a 2019 cardinal law which seeks to hold senior churchmen accountable for covering up cases of sex abuse.
By the expansion, vulnerable adults, including nuns or seminarians who are dependent on their bishops or superiors, can also be victims of abuse particularly when there is no consent.
The new approach is said to be a response to the many cases of abuse that have come to light in recent years, indicting lay leaders of abusing their authority by sexually exploiting people under their spiritual guidance.
AP report says the new rules conform to other changes in the Catholic Church’s handling of abuse that have been issued since then.
The report also added that in a very significant way, the laws are being expanded to cover leaders of Vatican-approved associations, headed by lay leaders, not just clerics.
A major plank of the expansion is that Pope Francis made permanent the temporary provisions of the 2019 law.
Although the law received plaudits at the time for laying out precise mechanisms for investigating complicit bishops and religious superiors, its implementation was however, adjudged uneven, with Abused Survivors criticizing the Vatican particularly for sustained lack of transparency in the cases.
The new law states, among others, that a vulnerable person is “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 the offense.”
Prior to the new law, Church law made the point that only adults who “habitually” lack the use of reason can be considered victims alongside minors.
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