Acts of Criminal Law in reference to crimes against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue, passed after the promulgation of Code of Canon Law in 1983
Keywords:
crimes against virtue of purity, cohabitation, violation of the sixth commandment, crimes against clergy’s own duties, crimen pessimum, expulsion of monks, administrative procedures, dispensation, obstacles for priestly ordination, protecting of children and the youth, rules De gravioribus delictis reserved for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, special entitlements of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, special entitlements of the Congregation for the ClergyAbstract
The Church is saint in spite of scandals on which it is exposed. The wave of scandals in America forced the Bishop Conference to formulation of rules based on which bishops should treat particular cases of clergyman paedophiles. In the final paper Essential Norms signed by American bishops on 15th June 2002 in Dallas. The Bishops Conference proposed very strict rules, claiming „zero tolerance” that should be applying as penal measures aimed to stop the wave of sexual abuses. Cardinal Dario Castrillón Hoyos, the perfect of Congregation for Clergy explained rejecting those rules by the Holy See: „It is not possible for the unfair accusation not based on evidence to ruin the clergyman’s life”. Vatican Commission wants a fair trial for a clergyman accused of paedophilia before he will be sentenced for the most severe expiatory punishment (Can. 1336, §1, n.5° – expulsion of clergy).
Pope John Paul II in 2001 approved new rules dedicated delicta graviora which are reserved for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. A new text Normae de gravioribus delictis modified as a result of Pope Benedict XVI’s decision of 21st May 2010 extended punish ability period of the offence of the most serious crimes up to twenty years, with saving the right of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to abolish the laches. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith can give dispensations for the workers of the Court from the clergy requirement or even a doctorate of Canon Law.
In the most serious cases, Pope has got a right to expel of the clergy (dimissio e statu clericali) or to strip off the office accompanied with a dispensation from the celibacy „when it is obvious crime committed after the guilty person’s right of the defence”.
Pope Francis in the promulgated the ecclesiastical letter in a form of motu proprio Come una madre amorevole (Church as a loving mother) of 4th June 2016 reminds that a duty of taking care and defence of the juveniles should be taken by all the Church; however, in a special way by its shepherds. That is why diocese bishops, eparchy and those who are responsible for an individual Church ought to be diligent in protecting the weakest of the people they got entrusted, indeed. Pope claimed bishops who react slowly for serious crimes committed by clergymen would be strip off the office.
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