Bishops face sack for child abuse 'negligence': pope

Yahoo – AFP, June 4, 2016

Pope Francis has said that bishops found to be "negligent" in dealing with predator
priests in "cases of sexual abuse of minors" can be dismissed (AFP Photo/
Giuseppe Cacace)

Vatican City (AFP) - Catholic bishops guilty of negligence in child abuse cases can now be dismissed from office, Pope Francis said Saturday in a move hiking pressure on the Church's hierarchy.

The move was announced just two weeks after the pope came under fire for meeting a top French cardinal accused of covering up for a paedophile priest in a scandal that has shaken France's Catholic Church.

The decision, which will also apply to other senior Church officials, was unveiled in a papal decree which said such cases would now fall under existing canon law allowing for prelates to be sacked for "serious reasons".

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the

 under-fire Archbishop of Lyon suspected 

of covering up for a paedophile priest, 

pictured in April (AFP Photo/Jeff Pachoud)

"The Church, like a loving mother, loves all her children, but treats and protects with special affection the smallest and most helpless," the papal decree said.

Pope Francis came to power promising a crackdown on cover-ups and a zero tolerance approach to abuse itself, but victims' groups have expressed discontent with his record on ridding the Church of the taint of paedophilia.

Known as an Apostolic letter, the text stresses the need for "special diligence" in caring for minors and vulnerable adults, with those who demonstrate negligence in tackling cases of abuse facing the threat of dismissal.

That diligence is required even "without grave moral culpability" on the part of the bishop involved, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in an explanatory statement.

"For removal from office, in the case of abuse of minors, it is 'sufficient for the lack of diligence to be grave' while in other cases a 'very grave' lack of diligence must be demonstrated," he added.

A "college of legal experts" -- cardinals and bishops -- has been set up to assist the pope reach a decision arriving at a definitive decision in a particular case.

The Barbarin case

A string of historic paedophilia cases in North America and Europe has unleashed widespread criticism of the Catholic hierarchy, including allegations that in some cases bishops were aware of sexual predators among the priesthood but failed to curb them.

Last month, Francis held a surprise meeting with French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the under-fire Archbishop of Lyon who is suspected of covering up for a paedophile priest.

The meeting came just days after the pope was quoted as saying it would be "nonsensical and imprudent" to seek Barbarin's resignation at this stage.

It was not immediately clear whether the papal decree would impact on the Barbarin case.

French examining magistrates are currently carrying out two preliminary investigations to decide whether to pursue charges against the archbishop for his handling of the allegations against Bernard Preynat, a priest in his diocese who has been charged with sex abuse.

Police this week raided the offices of Nicolas de Boccard, a clerical judicial adviser to the Lyon diocese, sources close to the case said Saturday.

Barbarin will be questioned by police shortly, the sources told AFP.

Sister M. Elisabeth Vaterordt (R) stands in the church in Ostritz, Germany,

 21 May 2016. The 60-year-old has been introduced into the ministry with a church

 service. Vaterordt is the 56th abbess of the St. Marienthal monastery of the

district of Goerlitz. (Alemania) EFE/EPA/PAWEL SOSNOWSKI

'Sceptical'

A US group representing victims of paedophile priests suggested that the Vatican's initiative on Saturday sought to put a brake on efforts to stop abusers and bring them to justice.

"We're extraordinarily sceptical," David Clohessy, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement.

"Popes and bishops have long had the power, but not the will, to oust those who protect predators and endanger kids. They refuse to do this, and the consequences are devastating," Clohessy said.

"When it's advantageous to move quickly, Catholic officials move quickly. When they want to move slowly, or not at all, they set up commissions and 'processes' and the like."

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… I gave you a channelling years ago when Pope John Paul was alive. John Paul loved Mary, the mother. Had John Paul survived another 10 years, he would have done what the next Pope [The one after the current one, Benedict XVI] will do, and that is to bring women into the Church. This Pope you have now [Benedict XVI] won't be here long.* The next Pope will be the one who has to change the rules, should he survive. If he doesn't, it will be the one after that.

There it a large struggle within the Church, even right now, and great dissention, for it knows that it is not giving what humanity wants. The doctrine is not current to the puzzles of life. The answer will be to create a better balance between the feminine and masculine, and the new Pope, or the one after that, will try to allow women to be in the higher echelon of the Church structure to assist the priests.

It will be suggested to let women participate in services, doing things women did not do before. This graduates them within church law to an equality with priests, but doesn't actually let them become priests just yet. However, don't be surprised if this begins in another way, and instead gives priests the ability to marry. This will bring the feminine into the church in other ways. It will eventually happen and has to happen. If it does not, it will be the end of the Catholic Church, for humanity will not sustain a spiritual belief system that is out of balance with the love of God and also out of balance with intuitive Human awareness. …”