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Vos estis lux mundi: Too Far or Not Far Enough?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2020

Helen Costigane
Helen Costigane*
Affiliation:
Programme Director in Theology, St Mary's University, Twickenham
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Abstract

In the light of the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church, several inquiries have given recommendations on what should be done in the future, to ensure that such crimes are dealt with both civilly and canonically. In 2017, the Royal Commission of Australia produced a number of specific points to be addressed. Two years later, Pope Francis introduced guidelines to be observed universally whenever cases are reported, and these addressed many of the commission's recommendations. A question remains as to whether these have gone too far or far enough.

Keywords

safeguardingcanon lawvulnerability
Type
Articles
Information
Ecclesiastical Law Journal , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 300 - 313
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Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2020

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References

1 Pope Francis, Vos estis lux mundi, 2019, <www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio-20190507_vos-estis-lux-mundi.html>, accessed 10 November 2019.

2 Though there have been a number of investigations in countries such as Ireland, Scotland, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse (RCIRCSA), Final Report (2017), provided very specific recommendations to the Catholic Church on what action should be taken. The report is available online, <https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/final-report>, accessed 25 June 2020.

3 Two of the most prominent clergymen to be accused in recent years are Keith O'Brien, former Cardinal Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Edinburgh and St Andrews, and Theodore McCarrick, former Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, DC.

4 See ‘Pope admits clerical abuse of nuns, including sexual slavery’, BBC News, 6 February 2019, <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47134033>, accessed 25 June 2020. This was not news in the sense that in 1994 Sr Maura O'Donohue, who had worked in Africa, compiled a report detailing such abuse, not only in Africa, but also in the United States, India, Ireland and Italy. See P McGarry, ‘The Irish woman who exposed abuse of nuns by priests 25 years ago’, Irish Times, 10 February 2019, <https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/the-irish-woman-who-exposed-abuse-of-nuns-by-priests-25-years-ago-1.3788555>, accessed 19 January 2020.

5 This raises a question about the definition of ‘vulnerable adult’, which will be discussed later.

6 See J-C Larchet, The New Media Epidemic: the undermining of society, family, and our own soul (Jordanville, NY, 2019), p 57.

7 For example, see ECPAT International, Trends in Online Child Sexual Abuse Material (Bangkok, 2018), available at <https://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ECPAT-International-Report-Trends-in-Online-Child-Sexual-Abuse-Material-2018.pdf>, accessed 19 January 2020.

8 See, for example, Commission of the European Community, ‘Report from the Commission based on Article 12 of Council Framework Decision of 22 December 2003 on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography’ (Brussels, 2007), <https://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/eu-policy/report-commission-based-article-12-council-framework-decision-200468jha-22-december-2003_en>, accessed 25 June 2020.

9 See United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, ‘Promise to protect, pledge to heal: charter for the protection of children and young people’, June 2018 (revised), <www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/Charter-for-the-Protection-of-Children-and-Young-People-2018-final.pdf>, accessed 19 January 2020.

10 The report was later made into a film, Spotlight, in 2015. The subsequent scandal after the 2002 report saw more victims coming forward, and the resignation of Cardinal Law.

11 National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, ‘Review of safeguarding practice in the Diocese of Raphoe’, August 2010, <https://www.safeguarding.ie/images/Pdfs/Dioceses_reports/Diocese%20of%20Raphoe.pdf>, accessed 25 june 2020.

12 Murphy, F, Buckley, H and Joyce, L, The Ferns Report, presented by the Ferns Inquiry to the Minister for Health and Children (Dublin, 2005)Google Scholar, available at <http://www.bishop-accountability.org/ferns>, accessed 31 January 2020, Executive Summary, p 1.

13 Department of Justice and Equality, Report by Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, 29 November 2009, <http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PB09000504>, accessed 25 June 2020 (hereafter Murphy Report).

14 IICSA, The Roman Catholic Church Case Study: Archdiocese of Birmingham Investigation Report, 20 June 2019, <https://www.iicsa.org.uk/publications/investigation/birmingham-archdiocese>, accessed 25 June 2020. This report noted the failure to report abuse cases to the police prior to 2001, with the default position being to take no action or move a priest to another parish, together with a culture of secrecy and protection of the institution (s E2: Conclusions, points 4 and 6). The same issues were noted in case studies related to the schools operated by the English Benedictine Congregation. See IICSA, Ampleforth and Downside Investigation Report, August 2018, <https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-documents/6583/view/ampleforth-downside-investigation-report-august-2018.pdf>, accessed 22 January 2020.

15 Archdiocese of Birmingham Investigation Report, s E2: Conclusions, point 16.

16 Code of Canon Law 1983, Canon 277 §1.

17 Goergen, D, ‘Celibacy’, in The New Dictionary of Theology (Dublin, 1987), pp 174–177 at p 174Google Scholar.

18 Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland, The Code of Canon Law, Letter and Spirit (London, 1995), p 800Google Scholar.

19 One of the most recent cases is that of Jean Vanier, founder of the L'Arche community, who has been accused of instigating sexual relations with women, usually in the context of giving spiritual guidance. See ‘Summary report from L'Arche International’, 22 February 2020, <https://www.larche.org/documents/10181/2539004/Inquiry-Summary_Report-Final-2020_02_22-EN.pdf/6f25e92c-35fe-44e8-a80b-dd79ede4746b>, accessed 26 June 2020.

20 For example, see Murphy Report, ch 4.

21 Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, ‘Instruction on the matter of proceeding in causes involving the crime of solicitation’, 1962, para 11, available at <www.vatican.va/resources/resources_crimen-sollicitationis-1962_en.html>, accessed 30 January 2020.

22 See Murphy Report, ch 4, s 4(24).

23 In fact, the ‘pontifical secret’ referred to the responsibility of confidentiality and was not a commitment to keeping things secret. Unfortunately, unhealthy secrecy became the norm in such matters rather than the positive values of confidentiality and discretion.

24 See Allen, J, All the Pope's Men: the inside story of how the Vatican really thinks (New York, 2004), p 282Google Scholar.

25 See N Cafardi, ‘The scandal of secrecy: canon law and the sexual-abuse crisis’, Commonweal, 13 August 2008, <https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/scandal-secrecy>, accessed 30 January 2019.

26 DSM-II was published in 1968; DSM-III in 1980, with a revision in 1987; DSM-IV in 1994, revised in 2000; DMM-5 is the most recent edition, published in 2013.

27 First used in 1949, the 11th edition comes into effect in 2022.

28 DSM-IV, p 571.

29 Canon Law Society of America, New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law (New York, 2000), pp 1541–1542Google Scholar.

30 In the Murphy Report it was noted that paedophilia could be made an actual defence to a claim of child sexual abuse, just as insanity would be a defence in the law of the state (ch 4, s 4(59), p 72). It was further noted that the penal process was set aside in favour of a purely ‘pastoral’ approach (s 4(90), p 79). In testimony to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI), Monsignor Peter Smith noted that it had been believed that child sexual abuse was a moral issue that could be sorted out by therapy (SCAI, TRN.001.001.3805, 8 June 2015, p 30).

31 R Torfs, ‘Canon law and the recommendations of the Royal Commission’, Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland Newsletter, April 2019, 15–39 at 22.

32 RCIRCSA, Final Report, Recommendation 16(11).

33 Ibid, Recommendation 16(13).

34 Ibid, Recommendation 16(10).

35 Ibid, Recommendation 16(8).

36 These are listed in Vos estis, Article 6, and include cardinals, bishops, patriarchs, papal legates, clerics who have been the pastoral heads of personal ordinariates or personal prelatures, and supreme moderators of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, as well as autonomous monasteries.

37 Canon 22: ‘When the law of the Church remits some issue to the civil law, the latter is to be observed with the same effects in canon law, insofar as it is not contrary to divine law, and provided it is not otherwise stipulated in canon law.’

38 See, for example, Care Act 2014 (England), <www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/contents/enacted>, accessed 16 March 2020; Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007, <www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2007/10/contents>, accessed 17 March 2020.

39 Acknowledgement to Brendan Geary FSM, who alerted me to this distinction. Following sexual abuse allegations against the American former film producer Harvey Weinstein, the #MeToo Movement began on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace. As it went viral, there were a number of responses from female American celebrities, claiming harassment or sexual assault.

40 It would perhaps be pushing the boundaries of the category too far to suggest that any and all members of a parish community (or any other adult community in which a priest ministers) are ‘vulnerable adults’. However, it is wise to recognise the imbalance of power when a priest is dealing with someone who may be particularly vulnerable because of bereavement, divorce or any other kind of emotional distress, whether temporary or permanent.

41 E Condon, ‘Analysis: “Vos estis” and “vulnerability”’, Catholic News Agency, 13 May 2019, <https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/analysis-vos-estis-and-vulnerability-39974>, accessed 29 January 2010.

42 Fortune, M, Is Nothing Sacred? When sex invades the pastoral relationship (San Francisco, CA, 1992), p 47Google Scholar, cited in Grenz, S and Bell, R, Betrayal of Trust: confronting and preventing clergy sexual misconduct (second edition, Grand Rapids, MI, 2001), pp 42–47Google Scholar.

43 See the UK's Sexual Offences Act 2003, <www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/contents>, accessed 3 March 2020.

44 If it is a bishop of the Eastern Catholic Churches, reports are forwarded to the relevant patriarch, major archbishop or metropolitan. If it is against the metropolitan himself, the report is forwarded to the Holy See and the senior suffragan bishop in the archdiocese (and the equivalent in the Eastern Churches).

45 See ‘Bishops accused of sexual abuse and misconduct: a global accounting’, BishopAccountability.org, updated 3 January 2020, <http://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/accused/global_list_of_accused_bishops.htm>, accessed 31 January 2020.

46 Murphy Report, ch 1, p 4.

47 Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, In God's Image: safeguarding in the Catholic Church in Scotland, 2018, <https://www.bcos.org.uk/Portals/0/In%20Gods%20Image%20WEB.pdf>, accessed 31 January 2020.

48 See Code of Canon Law 1983, Canons 447–459.

49 Vos estis lux mundi, Article 13, ‘Involvement of qualified persons’.