Lay Leaders of Church Institutions Must Report Crimes of Abuse Effective Today

Lay leaders of international organizations associated with the Catholic Church are required from this Sunday to report to the Vatican about crimes of sexual violence known to them in their organizations.

This obligation stems from an update made on March 25 by Pope Francis to a law passed in 2019 that requires all priests and the faithful to report crimes of sexual violence to the Vatican.

During this renewal, Francis confirmed and made permanent the provisional provisions of the law that had been enacted during the crisis in the Vatican and the Catholic hierarchy. The law was approved following a February 2019 summit in the Vatican, attended by bishops from around the world, to discuss the responsibility of the Catholic Church in response to cases of sexual violence.

The legislation was praised at the time for establishing clear mechanisms for investigating bishops and religious figures involved, but its implementation was uneven, with victims of abuse criticizing the Vatican for a perceived lack of transparency.

The new rules are in line with other amendments to the treatment of abuse by members of the Catholic Church that have been issued since then.

More importantly, the new rules apply, in addition to clerics, to moderators of associations approved by the Holy See.

This is a response to cases that have arisen in recent years involving lay leaders who are suspected of using their power to abuse those under their care.

The wording of the law requires all church personnel to report allegations of domestic clergy abuse and expands whistleblower protection by affirming the need to protect the reputation of those accused.

Many victims of abuse within the church accuse the institute of turning a blind eye for decades to bishops and religious figures who covered up cases by transferring priests suspected of sex crimes to other parishes instead of reporting them to the authorities.

The 2019 law attempted to address these complaints, but the victims accused the Holy See of secrecy in the investigations.

In Portugal, the fight against abuse in the Catholic Church has intensified with the establishment by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) in late 2021 of the Independent Commission for the Study of Child Sexual Abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church, led by child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht.

This commission, over the course of about a year of work, confirmed 512 of the 564 testimonies of ill-treatment it received, which made it possible to extrapolate the existence of at least 4,815 victims since 1950.

These findings, presented on February 13, have already led to the removal of some suspected priests from their activities.

Last Wednesday, the VITA team, led by forensic psychologist Rute Agulhas, was introduced, which will continue to work partially on receiving complaints from victims, but according to CEP President José Ornelas, “it will have a very significant part of the intervention in the next two to three years.” “, which includes “preparing the Church to be attentive, to accept the possible cases that happen, to treat them properly, to meet the needs of these people.” [vítimas] and others from the past.

“But also, and above all, the preparation of preventive measures, the training of people, especially agents who come into contact with children,” explains the President of the Bishops’ Conference.

The goal is also to “create a system that stays in the church” to keep track of these cases, with the possibility of moving in the direction of “preferably a secular and competent organization”.