Pope Francis has abolished the obligation of secrecy for those who report having been sexually abused by a priest and for those who testify in a church trial or process having to do with clerical sexual abuse.
"The person who files the report, the person who alleges to have been harmed and the witnesses
shall not be bound by any obligation of silence with regard to matters involving the case," the pope ordered in a new "Instruction On the Confidentiality of Legal Proceedings," published Dec. 17.
In an accompanying note, Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, said the change regarding the "pontifical secret" has nothing to do with the seal of the sacrament of confession.
"The absolute obligation to observe the sacramental seal," he said, "is an obligation imposed on the priest by reason of the position he holds in administering the sacrament of confession and not even the penitent can free him of it."
The instruction was published by the Vatican along with changes to the already-updated "Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela" ("Safeguarding the Sanctity of the Sacraments"), the 2001 document issued by St. John Paul II outlining procedures for the investigation and trial of any member of the clergy accused of sexually abusing a child or vulnerable adult or accused of acquiring, possessing or distributing child pornography.
In the first of the amendments, Pope Francis
changed the definition of child pornography. Previously the subject was a person under the age of 14. The new description of the crime says, "The acquisition, possession or distribution by a cleric of pornographic images of minors
under the age of 18, for purposes of sexual gratification, by whatever means or using whatever technology."
Comment: Clearly a poorly considered assignment, and particularly so now when tensions are high. People no longer feel safe enough to attend Christmas festivities due to the threat of terrorist attacks - so preaching forgiveness is really a bit rich.