Scandal! Secret Vatican rules disclosed to priests who have children

The Vatican has a secret guide for priests who become parents. However, a major failure of the source must be corrected.

After the wave of cures Pedophiles who rocked the most intimate of the Catholic Church, a second wave begins to emerge. "It's the next scandal … There are kids everywhere," says Vincent Doyle, an Irish victim of the new hiding.

Doyle discovered at the age of 28 that his natural father was a priest. The same as his mother hid behind the sponsor status. He felt alone and he was right: an archbishop showed him that the Vatican had strict and secret rules to apply to misguided priests with children.

Alessandro Gisotti, spokesman for the Vatican, acknowledged its existence: "I can confirm that this guide exists.It is an internal document." It was in response to a request from the New York Times.

Relationships that break the celibacy of priests generally occur with lay women serving the church or with nuns. The badual abuse against them has been revealed in recent weeks and has created a new scandal at the top of the institution.

Most of them remain hidden. Secrets As a sin

According to the website Coping International, which gathers children's stories from cures In some cases, some 50,000 children attend 175 countries. Pope Francis, who knows the tragedy, said in 2014: "With regard to the children of priests, a father must fulfill his obligations […] and badume the natural responsibilities that accompany paternal children. "

This is not the first time that the Sovereign Pontiff makes reference to this subject. In 2010, in his book On Heaven and Earth – written while he was still Archbishop of Buenos Aires – Francisco said that a priest who has a romance could continue his apostolate, but that whoever has a child should resign immediately. "The natural law precedes his work as a priest," he said.

According to the secret document admitted by Gisotti, it gives indications on the procedures. The "fundamental principle" is to offer "protection to the child". The Vatican guide asks the cure that he quit his priesthood and "badume his responsibilities as a father by devoting himself exclusively to the child".

However, the text is vague. Does the Vatican request or order? Because of the result, it is not an imposition and the religious decide themselves what they will continue to do. The highest ecclesiastical authorities now badyze the imposition of renunciation to those who do not fulfill their parental obligations.

However, canon lawyers claim that nothing forces the priest priest to give up his vocation since it is not a "canonical crime".

Doyle, who is the son of Reverend John J. Doyle of Longford, Ireland, used to take pictures with his father, thinking that he was really his godfather. In studying the case and learning the Vatican's guidance for the hidden fathers of the Church, he says that he does not agree with the fact that they should give up their work.

The Erik Zattoni is a case with more drama. Her mother was 14 years old when she was raped by Pietro Tosi in 1982. cure I was then 54 years old. His family lived in the parish house of Ferrara, Italy. When they tried to get Tosi to recognize his son, they were expelled.

It would have taken 28 years for a DNA test to reveal the truth and put the cure against the ropes. It was in 2010 and the Vatican instructed Tosi to take his responsibilities. But he did not force her to give up her ministry.

He has neither resigned nor accepted his paternity. He died in 2014, at the age of 86.

DNA tests could multiply as cases become known in families.

The New York Times presented the case of Linda Lawless, a 56-year-old Australian. He always wanted to know in detail his origin, since he had no father and that he had noticed that his mother would panic every time that a priest would enter the house.

"I thought I had at least 15": the controversial release of a priest who mistreated a girl

In 2018, he typed ancestry.com on his computer and a big screen opened before his eyes. Family trees, family ties, blood. Millions of data at your fingertips. With his DNA test, he entered. After a while and cross information, she was able to prove that she was the daughter of his priest.

While the Vatican is evaluating a radical change in the secret guide, thousands of young people – and not so many – are seeking to know the truth about their identity and their origins. Like Vincent Doyle. Like Linda Lawless. Like thousands of others.