Pope changes Church law to make reporting sex abuse

Pope Francis today passed a measure to oblige those who know about sex abuse in the Catholic Church to report it to their superiors. 

Every diocese in the world will now be obliged to have a system for the reporting of abuse, under a new law published by the Vatican -- but the requirement will not apply to secrets revealed to priests in the confessional.

Pope Francis in the text of the legal decree said it is time to learn from the bitter lessons of the past.It follows a series of clerical assault cases in countries ranging from Australia to Chile, Germany and the US.

The Motu Proprio, a legal document issued under the pope's personal



authority, declares that anyone who has knowledge of abuse or suspects it, is "obliged to report it promptly" to the Church, using easily accessible systems.

The law only applies within the Church and has no force to oblige individuals to report abuse to civil authorities.

Under the new measure, every diocese around the world is obliged by June 2020 to create a system for the reporting of sexual abuse by clerics, the use of child pornography and cover-ups of abuse.

The new law follows a historic Vatican summit on child sexual abuse by priests in February, which saw much self-recrimination by the Church and horror stories from abuse survivors.