For decades together the Vatican has been brushing under the carpet and denying rampant sexual abuse of children by the Catholic priests, now Pope Francis has amended the Catholic Church’s criminal code on Tuesday by including punishments for sexual abuse crimes of minors by priests.

This much delayed move by the Papacy comes after repeated complaints by victims and demands by activists against paedophilia. The new code falls short of explicitly spelling out sexual offences against minors and refers to it under offences against the sixth commandment, which prohibits adultery.

Under the new heading, “Offences Against Human Life, Dignity and Liberty”, the code specifies that a priest is to be stripped of his office and punished “with other just penalties” if he commits offences against the sixth commandment with a minor.

Priests who grooms or induces a minor to expose himself or herself pornographically or to take part in pornographic exhibitions” will be similarly punished. Pertinently, one of the aims of the revision is mentioned as by Pope Francis was to reduce the number of penalties to the discretion of judges, especially in the more serious cases.

He also wrote, “The new text introduces various modifications to the law in force and sanctions some new criminal offences, which respond to the increasingly widespread need in the various communities to see justice and order re-established that the crime has shattered”.

Other amendments made related to, “the right of defence, the statute of limitations for criminal action, a more precise determination of penalties”. The said changes will come into force in December.

Earlier in 2019, he had convened a summit on clerical sex abuse by lifting secrecy rules which hindered investigation of priests accused of sexual abuse.

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.