Pope Francis’ decision to abolish the Catholic Church’s highest level of secrecy in child sexual abuse cases has been welcomed by survivors and advocates as a “step in the right direction" - but they
Critics have long argued the Vatican’s rule of “pontifical secrecy” has been used to protect pedophiles, silence victims and obstruct police investigations.
The changes to the canon law mean any testimony and documents gathered by the Church in relation to child sex abuse cases will now be made available to authorities upon request.
However, the changes won't impact the confessional seal, where
Pope Francis. Source: Getty Images
“We’re whistling in the wind if we think the Vatican is going to change the confessional seal,” Catholic historian and former priest, Dr Paul Collins told SBS News.
“They're not going to budge on that. But what this does do is it brings the church into line with the rest of society, with the rest of professionals. If a person becomes aware of sexual abuse...they have an obligation to report it to authorities."
Advocate for people impacted by child sexual abuse, Chrissie Foster told SBS News the changes are a step in the right direction, but the church still needs to work much harder to hold itself accountable.
Two of Mrs Foster’s daughters were repeatedly raped by a Catholic priest in Melbourne while they were at primary school in the 1980s.
"This is something, it's a step forward but there's so much that could happen and should happen and it's not happening,” Mrs Foster told SBS News.
“[The Vatican is] still waiting, they're still kicking and screaming and resisting. It's 2019 they should be doing everything they can to protect children."
Chrissie Foster says the announcement is a step forward but there's more work to be done. Source: SBS
Mrs Foster told SBS News the changes should have happened “a long, long time ago,” and to be truly impressed she’d like to see every Bishop and Archbishop globally “hand over their secret archives to police".
Pope Francis has also changed what the Vatican considers child pornography.
Now, pornographic images of anyone under the age of 18 are illegal under canon law, previously the cut off age was 14.
Australia has led the way in shining a light on the clergy abuse scandal, with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse offered a forensic look at systemic failings, recommending among other changes, that pontifical secrecy is abolished.
In a statement, the presidents of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia welcomed Pope Francis’ decision to remove the application of the pontifical secret in all cases of child sexual abuse.
Brisbane's Archbishop Mark Coleridge. Source: AP
“As we – along with leaders of religious institutes – said in our response to the Royal Commission, the accusation that Australian bishops or religious superiors were hiding behind the pontifical secret to protect abusers was untrue,” Australia Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge said.
