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Pope Francis has created a new commission to hear appeals of priests and bishops accused of what the Church considers grave crimes.
These crimes include sexual abuse of minors, wrongful use of the sacrament of penance, heresy, apostasy and the attempted ordination of women.
An edict approved by Francis establishes a new seven-member “college” inside the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
This will hear clerical appeals of cases involving delicta graviora, the Vatican term for serious sins against the sacraments.
The edict states that Francis decided to create the new commission “due to the number of appeals and the need to ensure a more rapid examination of the same”.
The college will consist of seven cardinals or bishops who can come from within or outside the CDF and will be chosen by the Pope.
Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said the group would tackle a “backlog” of appeals from clergy against whom allegations of abuse had been made.
He said that ordinary members of the congregation only meet once a month.
With four to five new appeals a month, each with a lot of paperwork, there is “a huge number” of cases was waiting to be heard.
Fr Lombardi said the backlog of cases is at risk of absorbing all the time of the CDF.
This month, a Vatican tribunal cleared US priest Msgr Richard Loomis of abuse charges, restoring him to ministry after a 10 year suspension.
The edict approved by Francis also outlines a special procedure for any bishop accused of grave crimes.
He “shall have his case examined by the whole body of members of the Congregation – the Ordinary Session – which may also examine other specific cases upon papal request, and/or examine cases referred to it by the newly created college”.
The edict updates a 2001 motu proprio by Pope John Paul II specifying which church crimes the CDF reserves for judgment.
Last December, Pope Francis established a separate pontifical commission for the protection of minors.
Sources
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News category: World.
