Francis obliges bishops and religious to denounce by decree cases of abuse committed in the Church

A few weeks after the historic summit against pedophilia in the Catholic Church, Pope Francis held one of his promises: he signed a decree with a series of standards against abusers and tie-ins for badual abuse.

On the basis of the conclusions of the meeting held at the Vatican in February, Francisco created new procedures for report harbadment and violenceand to ensure that bishops and religious superiors are responsible for their actions.

Through 19 articles, the papal document published on Thursday establishes the obligation for the clergy and religious report abuse. In addition, he predicts that by 2020, each diocese should have a system easily accessible to the public to receive reports.

The regulation, which will enter into force on 1 June, ratifies the presumption of innocence for investigations and does not modify the sanctions already provided for by the laws of the Holy See, while maintaining as "absolute and inviolable" the secret of confession.

The decree will have a duration of three years and aims to punish actions or omissions of bishops and religious superiors "with the intention of intervening in investigations or evading them".

Among the novelties foreseen, there is the obligation for all the dioceses of the world to count, in one year, "one or more stable systems and easily accessible to the public to present reports" badual abuse committed by religious men and women, the use of child badgraphy and coverage of the same abuses.

The document covers not only harbadment and violence against small and vulnerable adults, but also against badual violence and harbadment resulting from an abuse of authority as well as possession of child badgraphy.

This obligation also includes any case of violence against religious clerics, as well as the case of harbading seminarians or novices of legal age.

In addition, it identifies, as a specific category, the so-called Hiding Behavior: consists of "acts or omissions intended to hinder or escape from civil investigations or canonical, administrative or criminal investigations, against a religious or a religious in relation to crimes" d & # 39; Sexual abuse

The text states that beyond hardening standards, "the person being investigated is recognized presumption of innocence"and that he will be informed of the existence of the investigation, at the request of the competent ecclesiastical authority.