As reported by media, Pope Francis tabled a new law which would require the Catholic priests and nuns to report clergy sexual abuse by\u00a0their superiors to church authorities.<\/p>\n
“New church law provides whistle-blower protections for anyone making a report and requires all dioceses around the world to have a system in place to receive the claims confidentially. And it outlines procedures for conducting preliminary investigations when the accused is a bishop, cardinal or religious superior.”<\/em><\/p>\n It is procedural law and not criminal in nature.<\/p>\n “The law defines the crimes that must be reported as performing sexual acts with a minor or vulnerable person; forcing an adult \u201cby violence or threat or through abuse of authority, to perform or submit to sexual acts\u201d; and the production, possession or distribution of child pornography. Cover-up is defined as \u201cactions or omissions intended to interfere with or avoid\u201d civil or canonical investigations.”<\/em><\/p>\n [Source: TIME]<\/p>\n [Picture Credits: TIME Magazine]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As reported by media, Pope Francis tabled a new law which would require the Catholic priests and nuns to report clergy sexual <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8808,"featured_media":215295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1188,2],"tags":[35804,35805,35806,35807],"class_list":["post-215284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot_off_the_press","category-news","tag-catholic-priests","tag-clergy-sexual-abuse","tag-pope-francis","tag-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\n
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