Pope Francis attends an audience with participants of a course on the Internal Forum promoted by the Apostolic Penitentiary Court, in the Pope Paul VI hall, at the Vatican, Friday, March 29, 2019.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has issued sweeping new sex abuse legislation for Vatican personnel and Holy See diplomats overseas, requiring the immediate reporting of abuse allegations to Vatican prosecutors, a policy shift aimed at being a model for the Catholic Church worldwide. The mandatory reporting provision of the legislation published Friday marks the first time the Vatican has put into law requirements for Catholic officials to report allegations of sex crimes to civil authorities or face fines and possible jail time.
Francis also issued child protection guidelines for Vatican City State and its youth seminary, acting after the global sex abuse scandal exploded anew last year and The Associated Press reported that the headquarters of the Catholic Church had no policy to protect children from predator priests.
JonLemire But only in Vatican City or is this a poorly worded header?
FrEdwardBeck Pope Francis has been left a terrible mess to fix! He has and is trying to fix it! People should not crucify him for doing that! Let’s give him a chance and see what he does. He can’t do it right away it takes time!! He will cleanse the church and get the filth out!!
I expected nothing less! It’s just more of “let’s keep it in house”. CLAN_AU
VanessaRumbles Why not law enforcement?
Why, is this new sex abuse legislation aimed only at Vatican personnel & Holy See diplomats posted overseas, I was under the impression these countless abuse cases over the many decades were against parish priests in large & small dioceses. This edict does not go far not enough.
Blah blah blah more smoke n mirrors from the world’s biggest cartel 🖕🏽
A Vatican prosecutor
Oregon teachers are required to report possible abuse to the local authorities immediately. Priest, clergy, pastors etc should also but they only answer to God and feel they're above human rights. Just look at the US evangelicals.
What a out to the police first? Protect the children, not the priest.
Report it to the police. Pope & friends hide it!
How about reporting to the police?
how about turning them over to the real police
The church are the biggest hypocrites that protect abuses of all kinds.
To Vatican prosecutors? This is sick. These deplorable men are the same ones involved in covering for all these vermin pedophile priests. How about report any and all sex abuse to local law enforcement so the vile abuser can be arrested and removed. This is mind boggling
Most folk wouldn’t need a rule to report sexual abuse
I still don’t understand why they’re allowed to self police.
ksdknews This should have already happened like 2000 years ago.
No God in its right mind thinks what the catholic church did was right.
Not my church. Not my kind of god.
JonLemire The Chavez and Maduro money are safe in his bank
Vatican prosecutors? How about you report to the police/court system/prison?
Immediate reporting to the church or to local law enforcement?
How many centuries did this take?
NinaMehlhaf You mean what any good and decent human should do...
Reporting to Vatican immediately? To hell with that Poop! Report the bast*rds to the police immediately!
Nuns were being enslaved/raped by preists. He knew about it for years & only just started doing something about it. I don't think this will do anything. Those who knew about abuses should have had the moral drive to report it anyway. They didn't. That's a problem this won't solve
Lol imagine having to mandate reporting child abuse in the moral high ground that is the church. Why the fuck weren't they already reporting it like it was mandatory?
Wow! So let me get this right: first, molesting innocent children is discouraged. But, if it does happen, and the dioceses find out, they’re no longer allowed to cover it up. Revolutionary stuff!!!
FrEdwardBeck No, you REPORT IT TO LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
Wait, how was that not already a law?
No, wrong again. They should be reported to the police!
How about to the police?
TweetingPriest Hey... how about immediate reporting TO. THE. POLICE.
Who will do nothing as Satan's minions
👏👏👏 Pontifex THANK YE FRANCIS. 🎓 IT ONLY TOOK OVER 2,000 YEARS SINCE MY SON WAS CRUCIFIED EH? NOW HANG A MILLSTONE AROUND THEIR NECKS AND HURL THEM INTO THE OCEAN FER PUNISHMENT. YER DOING A GREAT JOB FRANCIS. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. ✝️⚖️ BetterLateThanNever Lightbulb 💡
This whole thing is just a disgusting mess. It’s hard to imagine anyone keeping faith with the Catholic Church after all of this.
Yeah all catholics are perverts and must be destroyed! aka. the anti-religious
That's like asking a police officer to report when another officer did something bad. Wont happen.
... AND the actual legal authorities? I couldn't care less if Vatican prosecutors see it at all as long as the POLICE are notified. That has been the real issue for decades and decades now. This announcement means very little, really.
Ummm this isn’t already in place
Is there a prison in Vatican City?
Just call the police.
Does he think this will heal the victims? It sure will silence the future ones.
So, they will report to themselves about themselves... I see...
prosecute these abusers & don’t protect them! all due respect, this attempt is yet another lip service, church is not doing anything, all talk & no action
And the police.
not a moment too late
Vatican Prosecutors? 🤫🤫🤫
Only 2,000 years in the making!
Not falling for that shit
ksdknews Sex abuse should be reported to the police not the church!
Even Jussie Smollett laughs at this.
Only took 2,000 years. Holy S...
Anything less that reporting it to the local authorities is unacceptable. This 'dealing with it in house' has to fuck off.
I think the Catholic Church has policed themselves enough.
The church must be upright & in amend, humility & wash our feet.
how about they stop shuffling around rapist and turn those scum bags over to the police? pope paying lip service without real change
The Holy See is not of Caeser but of the Son of God!
He had no choice.
The only legi8he should pass is to allow priests to marry that my friends is what an effective policy would look like
rosannascotto Little too late to get Cardinal Law back.
but the past is under the carpet, in the closet
If you see something,pray something.
ReporterAHonea Money grabbers are lined up.
'To Vatican personnel'? What, so they can do a big circle jerk?
How about immediate reporting to the law? The Vatican will cover ( as has been the case for decades). Last I checked, these are crimes. These people should go to jail.
Breaking: Pope wants reporting of abuse made to the Vatican and not local police.
regulate or dismantle Big Religion.
“Vatican prosecutors”. The same a&s who just shifted these scumbag predators to another perish to victimize more kids. How about immediately report them to prosecutors instead? Oh wait - that might cost you money.
Shouldn’t that have always been the best thing to do?
RCoonhound What took PopeFrancis so damn long? Why would he even have to give this kind of directive to clergymen? RomanCatholicChurch is only 1400 years too late
What about local cops? Not enough
Do NOT buy this con. The Catholic Church cannot be allowed to police itself. Their history shows that they will condone and cover up the rape of children in order to protect the organization's reputation.
How about your priests just keep their hands to themselves!!
How about just reporting it to the local police like in the real world.....
This is a great solution. Let’s report these disgusting individuals that hide behind the cloth and in Jesus name, to the org that has been complicit of the crime for years. Such BS
Wow imagine that!!!! A rule that makes the church immediately report sexual molestation!
Why didn’t he think of this sooner? Oh right, because he’s complicit. dissolvethechurch
They need to be reported to the police
Why is georgepell still a cardinal? Milliganreports
Here’s a novel concept. How about reporting abuse to the police immediately.
Christianity: A Journey from Facts to Fiction
What’s the secret deal he made with China.....
That’s nice of him.
So it wasn’t required before ? 🤔
To Vatican prosecutors? What a joke. These vile criminsls need to be turned over to the judiciary of the gov and not their own prosecutors who will hand them a slap on the wrist, sweep it under the rug and once the dust has settled, move them to another dioces to start new🤮
PERO ES NECESARIO EL CASTIGO A TODOS, SIN EXCEPCIÓN RT
. so they can bury it?
keethers You should do a story about the cases the catholic church is fighting in court. Their actions don’t align with their new legislation.
Why not the police?
Creditably has long since been lost. Nothing this bunch of pedos will change my mind.
How about you report them to the police first?
If you get most of the abuse allegations than you will not have a church! Reality sucks!
Took long enough. He should have done that the moment he became Pope.
Nothing will ever be enough to begin to fix their broken system.
JonLemire This should read, report them immediately to the local authorities in which the acts were committed.
Figure that didn’t take decades longer than it should have.
Boy that’s mighty holy of him...should this have been the process all along.
About 20 centuries too late, boss.
Papa needs to clean house! Starting with himself!
rosannascotto Slips and falls, rear-ended, medical malpractice, clergy abuse...Don't delay, Call TODAY!
🖕
NYCNavid Report to the local police. Don’t mess around.
Blah, blah, blah.... Ridiculous.
More PATHOLOGICAL LIES JoshShapiroPA NewYorkStateAG DE_DOJ NewJerseyOAG MassAGO AGBecerra From Proven PEDOPHILE & CHILD TRAFFICKER Who Calls Himself pontifex NEW UPDATE, 3/28/19 From Base...{JoeBiden BeauBidenFDN TheJusticeDept SNAPNetwork
Why aren’t these crimes being reported to the police and public prosecutor? I’ve really lost all faith in the sincerity of the Catholic Church to help and protect the innocent and vulnerable amongst us.
So they are still going to keep the issue in house and hide it like they always have. Just more proof god isn't real.
How about reporting to actual police instead of to themselves since they have proven that they can't be trusted?
Gee
Abuse needs to be reported outside authorities. The church is completely incapable of policing itself.
And to think it only took two thousand years.
How long as the Pope been leading the church? 🙄
This must be from all the unwanted advances on his ring.
😂🤣🤣🤣
Why does this even have to be said? Are these not men of god who follow a moral code?
Tax the church out of existence.
The fact that this is being done only because of shaming and pressure and not out of decency (not to mention much sooner) speaks volumes about this organization.
Why can’t they just call the police, like everyone else?
Why not to the countries authorities and not the Vatican state? Like America police investigating police always leads to acquittals.
No. TO THE POLICE.
Umm I thought law enforcement had the same laws.
Sexual abuse should be reported immediately to the police 🛑 We all know what happens when the vatican is notified ... it covers it up & moves the accused around How much longer are people going to allow Pontifex & his this criminal syndicate get away with this? LockHimUp
Pontifex VaticanNews I hope all the pedophiles are brought to justice and I wish the families of the rapists could stone the pedophiles all to death!! IT'S TIME TO END PEDOPHILIA BY ENDING PEDOPHILES
TapeDeckChris ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
Not police.
Which will do nothing
This is a bad proposal, as the entire reason the doctrine of crimen sollicitationis was such a disaster was precisely because it repealed canon 904 (b) and no lounger required reports be made to local civil officials. They should be mandated to report to those local officials.
The Church, while useful in its day, has outlived its usefulness. Modern society is not so superstitious and the Church can no longer control the people by fear. Modern governments have found it much easier and effective to control with basic services and the withholding of them.
When children are raped by rapo priests why doesn't the Pope require police be notified and not him?
Burn in hell
They're supposed to be celibate! How much more 'sweeping' can you get?
Meh what they gonna report when your church goes to great extent to hide and cover it up?
They still don't get it ! They need to hire an outside source to monitor their behavior ! Until they do - the coverups or appearance of bogus justice will continue
Right. So they can start the cover up sooner? They should go directly to the police.
Eh still a wealthy cult
Isn’t it ironic the highest authority on religion on earth be a den of pedophiles.
To Whom?
That explains why he didn’t let anyone kiss his ring.
So that the cover up can start early and efficiently.
Slow clap... It’s 2019! Do you think maybe, just maybe, this should have been done DECADES ago? Ugh.
All talk, no action. The church needs to be purged, starting with HIM
Stable door 🚪.... Horse 🐎 bolted..
oh just at the Vatican huh
Imagine no religion...
Under this new legislation priests who engage in sex with minors can be penalized with up to a $45 fine AND loss of Netflix privileges for a week.
...who will promptly do nothing.