A panel of legal experts is to advise the Pope on whether to remove a religious superior or bishop from office for failing to protect children and vulnerable adults from sex abuse. The new measures were announced in a motu proprio from the Pope.
Vatican offices will continue to investigate claims of negligence on the part of bishops, ordinaries or religious superiors under their jurisdiction. But the Pope – who makes the final decision about a bishop’s removal from office – will be assisted by a papally appointed “college of jurists”, according to procedures that take effect on September 5.
In the motu proprio (the phrase means it is on his own initiative), the Pope reaffirmed that bishops and other Church leaders can be “legitimately removed” for negligence.
In order for it to be grounds for removal, such negligence – either through omission or commission – must have caused “serious harm to others”, including individuals or a community, the letter said, and “the harm can be physical, moral, spiritual” or to property.
The letter clarified that it normally requires a “very serious” lack of due diligence for a bishop to be removed; however, when it comes to a failing to protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse, a “serious” lack of due diligence is sufficient grounds for removal.
Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, said the new procedures were “clearly an important and positive step forward by Pope Francis”. The measures were a way to ensure “greater accountability in how we, as leaders of the Church, handle cases of abuse”.
Researchers discover bones of priest martyred in Japan
Remains discovered on a construction site in Tokyo are almost certain to be those of an Italian missionary who died in the early 18th century.
Born in Sicily in 1668, Fr Giovanni Battista Sidotti was an Apostolic Missionary of the Pontifical Congregation of Propaganda Fide. He arrived on the Japanese island of Yakushima in 1708 disguised as a samurai warrior, with kimono and topknot. He was quickly discovered and arrested.
Fr Sidotti was questioned by a Japanese scholar and politician, Arai Hakuseki. Impressed by the priest’s scholarship, Arai advised that the standard treatment for Christians – torture until they recanted their beliefs – was too harsh. He advised that Christians should be deported, with imprisonment and execution being the second and third options.
Fr Sidotti was imprisoned, and eventually died of starvation in 1714, aged 46. He is known as the last missionary martyr to Japan.
His remains were found during excavations for a block of flats on the site of a former prison. The bones showed a man of the height of a Westerner. DNA analysis on a tooth revealed the same genetic type as present-day Italians.
Sisters mark 25 years with party
The Sisters of Life in New York celebrated the 25th anniversary of their founding last week with a street party – complete with a Eucharistic procession, live music, face painting and children’s games.
At St Patrick’s Cathedral, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said the Sisters were a “booster shot for all of us”, proving that “renewal and rebirth are part of the Lord’s thesaurus”. The community started with eight postulants and has grown to nearly 100 women.
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