Scottish Catholic Observer

POPE Francis has established new legal procedures to remove bishops who mishandle sex abuse cases, saying they can be removed from office if the Vatican finds they were negligent in doing their jobs.

In an Apostolic letter published last Saturday, the Holy Father answered a long-running demand by victims of abuse and their advocates to hold bishops accountable for failing to prevent clerical sex abuse. Victims have long accused bishops of covering up for abuse, moving rapists from parish to parish rather than reporting them to police.

In Scotland, the Church’s national safeguarding co-ordinator, Tina Campbell (above) said the motu proprio letter was another sign of ‘serious and ongoing commitment’ to tackling the scourge of clerical child abuse.

The Pope acknowledged that the Church’s canonical code already allowed for a bishop to be removed for ‘grave reasons’ but he said he wanted to precisely state that negligence, especially negligence in handling abuse cases, could cost a bishop his job. Now bishops ‘must undertake a particular diligence in protecting those who are the weakest among their flock,’ the Pope wrote in the law.

The statute alters the original proposal approved by the Pope last year to establish a tribunal inside the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to hear negligence cases. The Pope’s sex abuse advisory board had recommended that the Congregation prosecute negligent bishops because it is already responsible for overseeing actual sex abuse cases against clergy.

In the new law, the Pope says a bishop can be removed if his actions or omissions cause ‘grave harm,’ either physical, moral, spiritual or financial, to individuals or communities.

The bishop himself does not need to be morally guilty: it is enough if he is lacking in the diligence required of his office. In abuse cases, it is enough that the negligence is ‘serious’, the law says.

Ms Campbell said the law was a sign of the Church’s commitment to ‘accountability’ under Pope Francis and said in Scotland there was ongoing and continuous work to ensure the mistakes of the past were not repeated.

“We’re getting the returns now for the annual audit of safeguarding practice across the Church,” she said. “We’re also working on implementing the McLellan report, and consulting on that implementation. I also ran a training course the other day for nine new safeguarding trainers who will be active across three dioceses. So the work continues but there are good things happening.”

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—This story ran in full in the June 10 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.