Civil and Canon Law on Reporting Child Sexual Abuse to the Civil Authorities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.37572Keywords:
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses, child sexual abuse, pontifical secret, canon lawAbstract
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (‘Royal Commission') found that virtually all the institutions it examined had concealed from the civil authorities information about the sexual abuse of children under their care. The predominant motivation was the preservation of the reputation of the institution. The Royal Commission found that three religious institutions had written into their internal laws a requirement to conceal the abuse. The most significant of these is the Catholic Church. Reporting to the civil authorities involves using the state's criminal laws to punish those who abuse children and to provide a deterrence to others from doing the same thing. Where there are suspicions that a child's welfare is in danger, the state's child welfare laws require reporting by particular professions (doctors, nurses etc.) to specialist units to enable them to take necessary steps to protect them. This article argues that the Royal Commission found that the Catholic Church's canon law since 1922 required Church authorities to conceal child sexual abuse by clergy from the civil authorities. At a meeting of the heads of national bishops' conferences with Pope Francis in Rome in February 2019, an indication was given that the "pontifical secret" would be abolished. At the time of writing, this has yet to be enacted.
References
Argentinian CBC (Catholic Bishops Conference of Argentina). 2013. Circular Letter to Assist Episcopal Conferences in Developing Guidelines for Dealing with Cases of Sexual Abuses of Minors Perpetrated by Clerics. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20110503_abuso-minori_en.html (accessed 9 February 2013).
Beal, John P. 2007. The 1962 Instruction Crimen Sollicitationis: Caught Red-handed or Handed a Red Herring? Studia Canonica 41(1): 199–236.
Benedict XV, Pope. 1917. Providentissima Mater Ecclesia, 27 May 1917.
Benedict XVI, Pope. 2010. Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela. http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_norme_lt.html (accessed 18 June 2016).
Cafardi, Nicholas P. 2008. Before Dallas: The US Bishops’ Response to Clergy Sexual Abuse of Children. Paulist Press, New York/Mahwah, NJ.
Cahill, D., and P. Wilkinson. 2017. Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: An Interpretive Review of the Literature and Public Inquiry Reports. School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne.
Catholic Catechism. 1993. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Citta del Vaticano.
Cozzens, Donald R. 2004. Faith that Dares to Speak. John Garratt Publishing, Mulgrave, VIC.
Cumberlege, Julia. 2007. Review of the Nolan Report. https://www.csas.uk.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Safeguarding-with-Confidence-The-cumberlege-Commission-Report.pdf (accessed 18 February 2013).
Delaney, Elizabeth. 2004. Canonical Implications of the Response of the Catholic Church in Australia to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia. Faculty of Canon Law, Saint Paul University, Ottawa.
Doyle, Thomas. 2006. TP Doyle, AWR Sipe & PJ Wall, Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church’s 2000-year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse. Volt Press, Los Angeles. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0748081400004124
—2017. Final Report Exhibit 50-0003, ‘Précis – Father Thomas (Tom) Doyle OP’. Case Study 50, IND.0650.001.0001_R at 0022_R.
Francis, Pope. 2018a. Francis to Send Letter to Chile that May Contain Decision on Bishops’ Resignations. National Catholic Reporter, 31 May. https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/francis-send-letter-chile-may-contain-decision-bishops-resignations (accessed 16 October 2018).
—2018b. Pope Francis Summons World’s Bishops to Meet on Sexual Abuse. New York Times, 12 September. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/world/europe/pope-bishops-conference.html.
—2019. Vos Estis Lux Mundi. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio-20190507_vos-estis-lux-mundi.html (accessed 10 May 2019).
Gasparri, P. (ed.). 1842. Volume IV Curia Romana N714-2055, 889, SCS Off. Litt 20 maii 1842. http://www.awrsipe.com/patrick_wall/selected_documents/1842%20Augustinian%20dubium.pdf (accessed 20 September 2014).
—1926. Codicem Iuris Canonici Fontes, Vol. I. Typis Polyglottis, Vatican. http://www.awrsipe.com/patrick_wall/selected_documents/1726%20Lavellana.pdf (accessed 9 February 2014).
Haliczer, Stephen. 1996. Sexuality in the Confessional: A Sacrament Profaned, Studies in the History of Sexuality. Oxford University Press, New York. https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/102.2.465
ICBC (Italian Catholic Bishops Conference). 2014. Italian Bishops Exempt Clergy from Reporting Abuse Allegations http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/619/0/italian-bishops-exempt-clergy-from-reporting-abuse-allegations- (accessed 15 June 2014).
John Paul II, Pope. 2001. Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela. http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/243690-10-sacramentorum-sanctitatis-2001-with-2003.html (accessed 4 August 2013).
Levada, Cardinal. 2011. The New York Times and Pope Benedict XVI: How it Looks to an American in the Vatican. http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_card-levada2010_en.html (accessed 3 July 2013).
Liebreich, Karen. 2004. Fallen Order: Intrigue, Heresy and Scandal in the Rome of Galileo and Caravaggio. Atlantic Books, London.
Lombardi, Carlos . 2017. Argentinian lawyer for Red de Sobrevivientes de Abuso Sexual Eclesiástico de Argentina (Survivors of Church Abuse Network of Argentina), email to the author, 1 June 2017.
Migne, J. P. (ed.). 1853. Patrologiae. Migne, Paris.
Minnerath, Roland. 1998. The Position of the Catholic Church Regarding Concordats from a Doctrinal and Pragmatic Perspective. Catholic University Law Review 47: 467–76.
Murphy, Yvonne. 2009. Dublin Report Part 1. http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/DACOI%20Part%202.pdf/Files/DACOI%20Part%202.pdf (accessed 23 December 2015).
O’Malley, Cardinal. 2016a. Cardinal O’Malley: We Have a Moral and Ethical Responsibility to Report Abuse. National Catholic Reporter, 16 February 2016. https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/cardinal-omalley-we-have-moral-and-ethical-responsibility-report-abuse (accessed 8 May 2019). 2016b. PCPM Guidelines Template. http://www.protectionofminors.va/content/tuteladeiminori/en/resources_section/pcpm-guidelines-template_page.html (accessed 16 October 2018).
—2017. ‘Pontifical Secret’ in Abuse Cases Needs Review, Advisers Tell Pope. https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/09/22/pontifical-secret-abuse-cases-needs-review-advisers-tell-pope/ (accessed 16 October 2018).
O’Reilly, James T., and Margaret S. P. Chambers. 2014. The Sexual Abuse Crisis and the Legal Responses. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Parkinson, Patrick. 2003. Child Sex Abuse and the Churches: Understanding the Issues. Aquila Press, Sydney.
Peters, Edward. 2006. Lest Amateurs Argue Canon Law: A Reply to Patrick Gordon’s Brief against Bp. Thomas Daily. Angelicum 83: 121–42. http://www.canonlaw.info/a_gordon.htm (accessed 3 July 2013).
Pius XI, Pope. 1922. Crimen Sollicitationis, ‘Instruction on the Manner of Proceeding in Causes involving the Crime of Solicitation’. Final Report 2017 Vol. 16 Book 2, 52, Exhibit 14-0003.
Reilly, Thomas F. 2003. The Sexual Abuse of Children in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston: A Report by the Attorney General of Massachusetts. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/downloads/archdiocese.pdf (accessed 15 April 2018).
Richter, A. L. 1959. Decretum Magistri Gratiani, editio Lipsiensis Secunda. Graz, Friedberg [1879].
Robinson, Geoffrey. 2015. Speech at launch of his book, The 2015 Synod: The Crucial Questions: Divorce and Homosexuality. NSW State Library.
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. 2017a. Final Report. Vol. 1. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/final-report (accessed 15 April 2018).
—2017b. Final Report, Vol. 16, Book 1. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/final_report_-_volume_16_religious_institutions_book_1.pdf (accessed 8 May 2019).
—2017c. Final Report, Vol. 16, Book 2. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/final_report_-_volume_16_religious_institutions_book_2.pdf (accessed 8 May 2019).
—2017d. Final Report, Vol. 16, Book 3. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/final_report_-_volume_16_religious_institutions_book_3_0.pdf (accessed 8 May 2019).
Sánchez, José Mariano. 1972. Anticlericalism: A Brief History. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN. https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/79.1.112
Scicluna, Charles. 2019. Pope Decrees Bishops Must be Directly Accountable for Sex Abuse or Cover-ups. New York Times, 9 May. https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019/05/09/world/asia/09reuters-pope-abuse-law.html (accessed 11 May 2019).
Skorka, Abraham, and Jorge Bergoglio. 2012. Sobre el cielo y la tierra. Editorial Sudamerica, Buenos Aires. Kindle version.
Tapsell, Kieran. 2014. Potiphar’s Wife: The Vatican’s Secret and Child Sexual Abuse. ATF Press, Sydney. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt163t8c3.6
—2015a. Canon Law: A Systemic Factor in Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church (Submission to the Royal Commission). https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Issues%20Paper%2011%20-%20Submission%20-%2033%20Kieran%20Tapsell.pdf (accessed 13 April 2018). (References are to paragraph numbers).
—2015b. Canon Law and Child Sexual Abuse through the Ages. Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society 36: 106–29.
Torfs, Rik. 2004. Child Abuse by Priests: The Interaction of State Law and Canon Law. In Concilium 2004/3: The Structural Betrayal of Trust, edited by Regina Ammicht Quinn, Hille Haker, and Maureen Junker-Kenny, 110–19. SCM Press, London.
Towards Healing. 2016. Principles and Procedures in Responding to Complaints of Abuse against Personnel of the Catholic Church in Australia, January 2016. http://ncps.org.au/public/public/41-towards-healing/file (accessed 14 March 2018).
Vatican, the. 2019. Pope Francis Issues New Legislation for Protection of Minors. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-03/pope-francis-legislation-protection-minors-vatiab.html (accessed 9 April 2018).
Woestman, William. 2003. Ecclesiastical Sanctions, and the Penal Process, Secreta Continere, translated by Woestman in Appendix VII, p. 237. St. Paul University, Ottawa.
Beal, John P. 2007. The 1962 Instruction Crimen Sollicitationis: Caught Red-handed or Handed a Red Herring? Studia Canonica 41(1): 199–236.
Benedict XV, Pope. 1917. Providentissima Mater Ecclesia, 27 May 1917.
Benedict XVI, Pope. 2010. Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela. http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_norme_lt.html (accessed 18 June 2016).
Cafardi, Nicholas P. 2008. Before Dallas: The US Bishops’ Response to Clergy Sexual Abuse of Children. Paulist Press, New York/Mahwah, NJ.
Cahill, D., and P. Wilkinson. 2017. Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: An Interpretive Review of the Literature and Public Inquiry Reports. School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne.
Catholic Catechism. 1993. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Citta del Vaticano.
Cozzens, Donald R. 2004. Faith that Dares to Speak. John Garratt Publishing, Mulgrave, VIC.
Cumberlege, Julia. 2007. Review of the Nolan Report. https://www.csas.uk.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Safeguarding-with-Confidence-The-cumberlege-Commission-Report.pdf (accessed 18 February 2013).
Delaney, Elizabeth. 2004. Canonical Implications of the Response of the Catholic Church in Australia to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia. Faculty of Canon Law, Saint Paul University, Ottawa.
Doyle, Thomas. 2006. TP Doyle, AWR Sipe & PJ Wall, Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church’s 2000-year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse. Volt Press, Los Angeles. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0748081400004124
—2017. Final Report Exhibit 50-0003, ‘Précis – Father Thomas (Tom) Doyle OP’. Case Study 50, IND.0650.001.0001_R at 0022_R.
Francis, Pope. 2018a. Francis to Send Letter to Chile that May Contain Decision on Bishops’ Resignations. National Catholic Reporter, 31 May. https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/francis-send-letter-chile-may-contain-decision-bishops-resignations (accessed 16 October 2018).
—2018b. Pope Francis Summons World’s Bishops to Meet on Sexual Abuse. New York Times, 12 September. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/world/europe/pope-bishops-conference.html.
—2019. Vos Estis Lux Mundi. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio-20190507_vos-estis-lux-mundi.html (accessed 10 May 2019).
Gasparri, P. (ed.). 1842. Volume IV Curia Romana N714-2055, 889, SCS Off. Litt 20 maii 1842. http://www.awrsipe.com/patrick_wall/selected_documents/1842%20Augustinian%20dubium.pdf (accessed 20 September 2014).
—1926. Codicem Iuris Canonici Fontes, Vol. I. Typis Polyglottis, Vatican. http://www.awrsipe.com/patrick_wall/selected_documents/1726%20Lavellana.pdf (accessed 9 February 2014).
Haliczer, Stephen. 1996. Sexuality in the Confessional: A Sacrament Profaned, Studies in the History of Sexuality. Oxford University Press, New York. https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/102.2.465
ICBC (Italian Catholic Bishops Conference). 2014. Italian Bishops Exempt Clergy from Reporting Abuse Allegations http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/619/0/italian-bishops-exempt-clergy-from-reporting-abuse-allegations- (accessed 15 June 2014).
John Paul II, Pope. 2001. Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela. http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/243690-10-sacramentorum-sanctitatis-2001-with-2003.html (accessed 4 August 2013).
Levada, Cardinal. 2011. The New York Times and Pope Benedict XVI: How it Looks to an American in the Vatican. http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_card-levada2010_en.html (accessed 3 July 2013).
Liebreich, Karen. 2004. Fallen Order: Intrigue, Heresy and Scandal in the Rome of Galileo and Caravaggio. Atlantic Books, London.
Lombardi, Carlos . 2017. Argentinian lawyer for Red de Sobrevivientes de Abuso Sexual Eclesiástico de Argentina (Survivors of Church Abuse Network of Argentina), email to the author, 1 June 2017.
Migne, J. P. (ed.). 1853. Patrologiae. Migne, Paris.
Minnerath, Roland. 1998. The Position of the Catholic Church Regarding Concordats from a Doctrinal and Pragmatic Perspective. Catholic University Law Review 47: 467–76.
Murphy, Yvonne. 2009. Dublin Report Part 1. http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/DACOI%20Part%202.pdf/Files/DACOI%20Part%202.pdf (accessed 23 December 2015).
O’Malley, Cardinal. 2016a. Cardinal O’Malley: We Have a Moral and Ethical Responsibility to Report Abuse. National Catholic Reporter, 16 February 2016. https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/cardinal-omalley-we-have-moral-and-ethical-responsibility-report-abuse (accessed 8 May 2019). 2016b. PCPM Guidelines Template. http://www.protectionofminors.va/content/tuteladeiminori/en/resources_section/pcpm-guidelines-template_page.html (accessed 16 October 2018).
—2017. ‘Pontifical Secret’ in Abuse Cases Needs Review, Advisers Tell Pope. https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2017/09/22/pontifical-secret-abuse-cases-needs-review-advisers-tell-pope/ (accessed 16 October 2018).
O’Reilly, James T., and Margaret S. P. Chambers. 2014. The Sexual Abuse Crisis and the Legal Responses. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Parkinson, Patrick. 2003. Child Sex Abuse and the Churches: Understanding the Issues. Aquila Press, Sydney.
Peters, Edward. 2006. Lest Amateurs Argue Canon Law: A Reply to Patrick Gordon’s Brief against Bp. Thomas Daily. Angelicum 83: 121–42. http://www.canonlaw.info/a_gordon.htm (accessed 3 July 2013).
Pius XI, Pope. 1922. Crimen Sollicitationis, ‘Instruction on the Manner of Proceeding in Causes involving the Crime of Solicitation’. Final Report 2017 Vol. 16 Book 2, 52, Exhibit 14-0003.
Reilly, Thomas F. 2003. The Sexual Abuse of Children in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston: A Report by the Attorney General of Massachusetts. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/downloads/archdiocese.pdf (accessed 15 April 2018).
Richter, A. L. 1959. Decretum Magistri Gratiani, editio Lipsiensis Secunda. Graz, Friedberg [1879].
Robinson, Geoffrey. 2015. Speech at launch of his book, The 2015 Synod: The Crucial Questions: Divorce and Homosexuality. NSW State Library.
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. 2017a. Final Report. Vol. 1. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/final-report (accessed 15 April 2018).
—2017b. Final Report, Vol. 16, Book 1. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/final_report_-_volume_16_religious_institutions_book_1.pdf (accessed 8 May 2019).
—2017c. Final Report, Vol. 16, Book 2. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/final_report_-_volume_16_religious_institutions_book_2.pdf (accessed 8 May 2019).
—2017d. Final Report, Vol. 16, Book 3. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/final_report_-_volume_16_religious_institutions_book_3_0.pdf (accessed 8 May 2019).
Sánchez, José Mariano. 1972. Anticlericalism: A Brief History. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN. https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/79.1.112
Scicluna, Charles. 2019. Pope Decrees Bishops Must be Directly Accountable for Sex Abuse or Cover-ups. New York Times, 9 May. https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019/05/09/world/asia/09reuters-pope-abuse-law.html (accessed 11 May 2019).
Skorka, Abraham, and Jorge Bergoglio. 2012. Sobre el cielo y la tierra. Editorial Sudamerica, Buenos Aires. Kindle version.
Tapsell, Kieran. 2014. Potiphar’s Wife: The Vatican’s Secret and Child Sexual Abuse. ATF Press, Sydney. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt163t8c3.6
—2015a. Canon Law: A Systemic Factor in Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church (Submission to the Royal Commission). https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Issues%20Paper%2011%20-%20Submission%20-%2033%20Kieran%20Tapsell.pdf (accessed 13 April 2018). (References are to paragraph numbers).
—2015b. Canon Law and Child Sexual Abuse through the Ages. Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society 36: 106–29.
Torfs, Rik. 2004. Child Abuse by Priests: The Interaction of State Law and Canon Law. In Concilium 2004/3: The Structural Betrayal of Trust, edited by Regina Ammicht Quinn, Hille Haker, and Maureen Junker-Kenny, 110–19. SCM Press, London.
Towards Healing. 2016. Principles and Procedures in Responding to Complaints of Abuse against Personnel of the Catholic Church in Australia, January 2016. http://ncps.org.au/public/public/41-towards-healing/file (accessed 14 March 2018).
Vatican, the. 2019. Pope Francis Issues New Legislation for Protection of Minors. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-03/pope-francis-legislation-protection-minors-vatiab.html (accessed 9 April 2018).
Woestman, William. 2003. Ecclesiastical Sanctions, and the Penal Process, Secreta Continere, translated by Woestman in Appendix VII, p. 237. St. Paul University, Ottawa.
Published
2019-06-25
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Equinox Publishing Ltd.
How to Cite
Tapsell, K. (2019). Civil and Canon Law on Reporting Child Sexual Abuse to the Civil Authorities. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 31(3), 143-164. https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.37572
