VATICAN EYES ABUSE

Pope creates tribunal

Pope Francis has created a new tribunal section inside the Vatican to hear cases of bishops accused of covering up for priests who raped and molested children, the biggest step the Holy See has taken to hold bishops accountable for abuse.

For years, the Vatican has been criticized by victims and advocacy groups for having failed to punish or forcibly remove bishops who moved predator priests around from parish to parish rather than report them to police or remove them from ministry.

The Vatican said Wednesday that Francis had approved proposals made by his sexual abuse advisory board to address that lapse.

The board includes two survivors of abuse and experts in child protection policies, and their proposal calls for a new mechanism by which the Vatican can examine complaints of abuse of office by bishops and bring bishops to trial in a tribunal.

A new judicial section, with permanent staff, will be created inside the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors,” a statement said.

Details must still be worked out, including the statute of limitations to determine whether old cases of negligence by bishops dating back 20 or 30 years ago can now be heard.

The congregation currently reviews all cases of priests who have abused minors and the statute of limitations on actual abuse is 20 years, though the congregation can waive that limit.

“Really pleased the Holy Father has approved our proposal,” commission member Marie Collins, a survivor of abuse, said in an email.

The sex abuse scandal exploded decades ago in the U.S., Ireland, Australia and elsewhere in large part because bishops and heads of religious orders moved pedophile priests around or sent them off for therapy, rather than report the crimes to police and conduct church trials as canon law requires.

Their aim was to prevent scandal.

In 2001, the Vatican required all bishops and religious superiors to send all abuse cases to Rome in a bid to crack down on abusers. In the ensuing years, thousands of priests were sanctioned and hundreds defrocked.

But their bosses who enabled them to continue abusing were never punished.

The Vatican said Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the head of Francis’s sex abuse advisory commission, presented the proposals to the Pope’s cardinal advisers, who have been meeting this week.

The panel approved the measures, as did Francis, who authorized funding for full-time personnel to staff the new office, the Vatican said.