Italian bishops publish first clerical sex abuse norms
(May 24, 2912) The Italian Catholic bishops' conference has released its first ever
set of guidelines for handling accusations of clerical sexual abuse, urging bishops
to cooperate with civil authorities, but also making it clear that bishops in Italy
have no legal obligation to report suspected cases to police. Bishop Mariano Crociata,
general secretary of the bishops' conference, presented the guidelines to reporters
on Tuesday and told them that 135 cases of clerical sexual abuse of minors had been
reported between 2000 and 2012. The bishop did not give further details about the
cases or how they were handled, other than to say that none of the priests involved
will be allowed to return to normal pastoral work where they would have contact with
children. The introduction to the Italian guidelines says that a bishop's first concern
must be "the protection of minors, care for the victims of abuse and the formation
of future priests and religious." The permanent council of the Italian bishops' conference
approved the guidelines in January and distributed them during the conference's spring
assembly held at the Vatican. Drawn up in response to an order by the Vatican in
May 2011 that every bishops' conference had to have guidelines in place within one
year, the Italian norms still must be approved by the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith. The Italians were one of the last bishops' conferences in Western Europe
to draw up national guidelines.