June 02, 2021

Anna Murray 

The Vatican announced on June 1 that Pope Francis had revised the rules making sexual abuse, grooming minors for sex, possessing child pornography, and covering up sexual abuse a criminal offense under Vatican law. The new provisions in the Code of Canon Law will be effective on December 8. They include two articles, 1395 and 1398 that explicitly penalize the sexual exploitation of adults by priests and powerful laypeople who misuse their authority. The reform is the most significant milestone in the Roman Catholic Church's laws in about 40 years, and it is the first major overhaul since 1983.

Under the new law, bishops and religious superiors will be held accountable if they overlook or cover up sexual abuse, fail to adequately investigate or sanction against predator priests. According to the new law, priests who engage in sexual acts with a minor or adult can be defrocked if they manipulate using force, threats, or abuse of authority.

The Vatican has long been plagued by sexual abuse scandals involving priests and cover-ups by senior clerics. Since being elected pontiff in 2013 for the world's 1.3 billion Catholics, Pope Francis has pledged to address sexual abuse issues affecting Catholic priests. Pope Francis presided over the 2019 clerical sex abuse summit, abandoning the contentious canon of pontifical confidentiality in favor of transparency. The most recent revisions reflect a growing recognition within the church that sexual abuses are crimes against human life, dignity, and liberty.

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