We all know about the abuse, and are now aware it was not simply about a few bad priests, but also involved a quite frankly criminal conspiracy to protect the abusers and so enabled them to continue to molest thousands over many decades without fear of any consequences at all.

They claim that everything has now changed and assurances have been given that robust protection policies are in place. You would assume that any abuse would now be immediately reported to the authorities and will not be tolerated … right?

Apparently not … Saturday’s Belfast Telegraph reports …

Bishops ‘not obliged’ to report sexual abuse to police

Saturday, 26 May 2012

The Italian Bishop’s Conference (CIE) has issued guidelines on child protection that inform its bishops that they are ‘not obliged to report illicit facts’ of child abuse to the police.

The new guidelines were released recently after the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith advised every Bishop Conference to create a document covering Child Protection if they did not already have one.

One of the conferences that was void of such documentation was the CEI which works under Pope Benedict XVI.

In their new five page document which advised Italian Bishops on how to deal with paedophilia they failed to focus on one of the most important and obvious means of combating the crime – informing police authorities.

Instead the document read: “Under Italian law, the bishop, given that he holds no public office nor is he a public servant, is not obliged to report illicit facts of the type covered by this document to the relevant state judicial authorities.”

So even today, this very week, Bishops are being advised that they have no obligation to report abuse. Yet more evidence that those that claim the high moral ground are in fact completely and utterly morally bankrupt.

Links

• It is also reported in the Irish Times here.