Catholic Church’s sexual abuse law extended
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Pope Francis has amended a 2019 Church law on clerical sexual abuse and increased its ambit to include Catholic lay leaders of Vatican-approved religious organisations.
Lay leaders are those other than clergy who are on the professional rosters of the church.
He first defined the norms in an Apostolic letter, Vos estis lux mundi (You are the light of the world), in 2019. They were originally mandated for a four-year period.
He has made some minor changes to that document and made it permanent from April 30.
One of the changes provides for holding lay leaders of Vatican-approved associations accountable for cover-ups of sexual abuse.
Another change is the definition of abuse victims. The revised document now specifies “a minor, or with a person who habitually has an imperfect use of reason, or with a vulnerable adult”.
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