Editorial: Vatican's steps falter again on sex abuse

Editorial: Vatican's steps falter again on sex abuse
Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times
July 17, 2010
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/2506190,CST-EDT-edit18a.article


On the day the Catholic Church finally abandons some lingering notion that it is a state unto itself, rather than a religious organization bound by civil law, it will take a great leap forward in resolving the scandal of sexually abusive priests.
Until then, progress may continue to come in the form of two steps forward, one step back.

The latest stumbling steps for the church came on Thursday, when the Vatican issued revised in-house rules that make it easier to punish abusive priests. The revised rules lay out procedures for defrocking abusive priests more quickly, target for the first time priests who molest the mentally disabled as well as children, and double the statute of limitations for in-house prosecution of those crimes.

But the rules still do not explicitly require that sexual misconduct be reported to the police, nor do they insist that bishops who cover up such crimes be disciplined.

And taking that one step back, the Vatican declared sex abuse offenses "grave crimes" in the very same document that it called the attempted ordination of women a "grave crime."

After the document was released, a Vatican spokesman tried to dispel the obvious inference that the church views child abuse and the ordination of women as equally objectionable.

The first offense, said the spokesman, is a "crime against morality" while the second is merely a "crime against a sacrament."

But the damage is done. The Holy See looks blind once again.

As a matter of justice, and for the church's sake, we would hope the Vatican takes another step forward immediately by requiring that all sexual abuse cases be reported to civil authorities, even in countries where that is not required.

And bishops who hush up such crimes should be no less accountable to civil law.