Rome: The Vatican's sex crimes prosecutor has
warned bishops that they must follow the church's laws and
standards on dealing with priests who sexually abuse children
or face possible church sanctions for negligence.
Monsignor Charles Scicluna spoke today on the sidelines of
a Vatican-backed symposium on clerical sex abuse that is
designed to help bishops craft guidelines to protect children
and keep pedophiles out of the priesthood.
Abuse victims have long denounced the lack of
accountability of bishops who routinely moved abusive priests
from parish to parish rather than report them to police or
punish them internally.
Scicluna said doing so was "unacceptable" and that church
law provides for sanctioning bishops who are negligent or
malicious in doing their job.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, February 08, 2012, 20:57