To all those critics who have clamored for greater accountability for Catholic bishops who drop the ball on sex abuse cases, the Vatican’s top prosecutor this morning had a simple message: You’re absolutely right. “We need to be vigilant in choosing candidates for the important role of bishop, and we also need to use the tools that canonical law and tradition give us for the accountability of bishops,” said Maltese Monsignor Charles Scicluna. As a case in point, Scicluna bluntly said it is simply “not acceptable” for bishops to ignore anti-abuse protocols established by the Vatican or by their bishops’ conference. He said the church in Ireland, to take one example, “has paid a very high price for the mistakes of some of its shepherds.” Sciculuna was apparently referring, at least in part, to a damning 2011 government report on the Irish diocese of Cloyne, which found that both civil laws and church procedures on handling sex abuse complaints were flouted as recently as 2009. “When set standards are not followed, this is unacceptable,” he said. Scicluna said there are actually already provisions in church law to sanction bishops for “negligence and malice in exercising one’s duties,” suggesting this provision should be more strenuously applied. Full Story:Vatican abuse summit: 'Bishops must be held accountable'Source:National Catholic Reporter
