Church Law, Not Rogue Clergy Concealed Child Abuse
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A revelation that has caught me, and I suspect many others by surprise is the existence of the ‘pontifical secret’ a code or rule of secrecy by which the Catholic Church actually prohibits any reporting to police of child abuse by Church office holders, including priests. A breach of this official code of secrecy leaves a perpetrator subject to sanctions ranging up to excommunication. Church edicts have made this even more starkly relevant by stating that Bishops should choose to go to prison rather than disclose child abuse by priests to civil authorities.
In Australia this absolute prohibition was only relaxed in 2010, permitting Bishops to comply with legal reporting requirements. However, as Canon Law experts are pointing out, not all Australian jurisdictions have mandatory reporting laws in place. In short where civil laws do not impose a legal obligation to report child abuse by priests, Bishops and Priests remain prohibited by Church law from reporting child abuse.
The significance of the pontifical secret is enormous. Until 2010 this Catholic Church rule prohibited its office holders from disclosing child abuse by priests irrespective of state laws. Consequently, it could be said that it may be understandable why Bishops, not wanting to disobey the laws of the Church, did not disclose child abuse and hid such acts in order to protect the reputation of the Church. This reasoning appears to also extend to George Pell and his other alleged offences of failing to report child abuse.
Even though, since 2002 in the US, and 2010 in Australia, the pontifical secret permits the reporting of child abuse, last weekend’s Bishops conference in the Vatican, convened to discuss child abuse by clergy, revealed a continuing reluctance to abandon the pontifical secret with respect to the reporting of child abuse. One or two Bishops urged that this code of secrecy be abandoned in favour of a direction that all abuse allegations be referred to the authorities. But once again the Church leaders failed to take a decisive step and leaving in place the current reconciliation of Church and State laws by maintaining a code of secrecy, qualified only by state laws imposing reporting requirements on clergy aware of child abuse by their colleagues.
The inescapable conclusion is that the Catholic church has been disingenuous, if not downright dishonest, when blaming individuals for concealing sexual abuse by its clergy.
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