Pope Francis revises Code of Canon Law on clerical sexual abuse crimes
A set of laws and procedures announced by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI and specifically by Pope Francis to save children, promote the investigation of accusations of clerical sexual abuse and punish offenders are involved in a heavily revised section of the Code of Canon Law.
“The revision of “Book VI: Penal Sanctions in the Church,” one of seven books that consist of code for the Latin rite of the Catholic Church, was promulgated on June 1 and will go into effect December 8,” wrote Pope Francis.
After revising 63 of the book’s 89 canons, the revisions directly point at a host of issues that have emerged during the life journey of the church after St. John Paul II announced the code in 1983.
The elaboration on crimes of sexual abuse, involving child pornography, is more explicit, and the needed course of action of a bishop or superior of a religious order in handling accusations are stricter.
