It is amazing to see the POPE actually have to say this and make it a law. Is it not obvious to those who work at the Vatican that Child Sex Abuse is BAD? Again, if the POPE has to come out and say this, it must be a real bad problem at the Vatican. Some say it is the house of the anti-Christ?
What's next. POPE going to make an announcement and law that you cannot commit human & child sacrifices on Vatican property?
Come on MR. Pope. Arrest the child rapist and murders!
*******************************************************************
updated 3:37 PM EDT, Thu July 11, 2013
Pope Francis on a recent trip to Lampedusa island in Italy on July 8, 2013.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Abuse victims advocacy group dismisses the law as a "feel good gesture"
- Any form of child pornography is also forbidden under pope's new initiative
- The new laws include other measures to ensure humane behavior by church officials
- They are part of an update to the Vatican's legal system started by Pope Benedict XVI
The acts were already
crimes under church law, but are now specifically outlawed within the
Vatican city-state, which is home to hundreds of people.
The legislation also covers child prostitution and the creation or possession of child pornography.
But it has a "broader scope," according to Radio Vatican.
Pope's first trip shuns pageantry
It adds provisions of
international laws against war crimes, racial discrimination and
humiliating treatment or punishment to the Vatican's legal system.
It includes wording from the Geneva Conventions.
Francis issued the new laws as a "moto proprio," meaning that the document was his own initiative, Vatican Radio said.
The new criminal laws are part of an ongoing update of the Vatican's legal system, which began under Pope Benedict XVI.
The Survivors Network of
those Abused by Priests, a U.S. advocacy group for victims of abuse by
priests and other clergy, dismissed the law as "a feel good gesture."
"For the Vatican's
image, this is a successful move. For children's safety, this is another
setback ... because it will help foster the false impression of reform
and will lead to more complacency," said SNAP director David Clohessy in
a written statement. "The church hierarchy doesn't need new rules on
abuse. It needs to follow long-established secular laws on abuse. And it
needs to push for, not oppose, real reforms to archaic,
predator-friendly secular laws (like the statute of limitations)."
