Friday, January 21, 2011

Bishops warned on sex abuse rule

Vatican officials told Irish bishops in 1997 that they had serious reservations about their policy of mandatory reporting of priests suspected of child abuse to the police or civil authorities, a newly disclosed document reveals. 

It appears to contradict Vatican claims that church leaders in Rome never sought to control the actions of local bishops in abuse cases, and that the Catholic Church did not impede criminal investigations of accused child abusers.

Abuse victims in Ireland and the US quickly proclaimed the document to be a ''smoking gun'' that would serve as important evidence in lawsuits against the Vatican.
''The Vatican is at the root of this problem,'' said Colm O'Gorman, an outspoken victim of abuse in Ireland who is now director of Amnesty International there.

''Any suggestion that they have not deliberately and willfully been instructing bishops not to report priests to appropriate civil authorities is now proven to be ridiculous.''

The letter, signed by Archbishop Luciano Storero, then the Vatican's chief representative in Ireland, told Irish bishops that the Vatican had reservations about mandatory reporting for both ''moral and canonical'' reasons.

A lawyer for the Vatican said the letter ''has been deeply misunderstood'', and that its primary purpose was to ensure that punishments were not overturned on technical grounds.

''In stark contrast to news reports, the letter nowhere instructed Irish bishops to disregard civil law reporting requirements,'' he said.

SIC: SMH/AUS