False
Churches, False Brethren, False Gospels
Vatican refuses to hand over it's paedophile priests
Victims of paedophile priests have reacted with dismay after new
guidelines from the Vatican insisted that bishops, rather than the
police, should deal with child abuse cases in the first instance.
By Nick Pisa in Rome 5:28PM BST 16 May 2011
The Telegraph UK
A five-page document drawn up by Cardinal William Levada, the head
of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, concluded that
the responsibility for dealing with any child abuse cases found
within the Church "belongs in the first place to bishops". In the
past, there have been repeated accusations of cover-ups by the
church and bishops have been found to have shielded child abusers.
The Vatican claimed the document, which will be circulated to all
clergy worldwide, was "an important new step" to cleanse the
Church of its recurring child abuse scandals and promised that the
church would cooperate the police in any official inquiries.
"This document is simply meaningless words - they have been forced
to act but it is not enough," said Marco Lodi Rizzini, a spokesman
for an Italian victim of abuse by priests group. "The Vatican has
said it will cooperate with the authorities before, but only
because they have been forced to."
Mr Rizzini pointed to a case that has just emerged in the northern
Italian city of Genoa where a 50-year-old priest has been arrested
by police investigating a drugs and sex ring. Although Church
leaders immediately suspended Father Riccardo Seppia, there were
claims that the Vatican had been warned of his behaviour in the
past. Piercarlo Casassa, a retired priest, said:"I told the Church
authorities about him in 1994 but I was ignored. I told them he
was not the right person to have around youngsters but no one
listened to me".
Maeve Lewis, of the One in Four support group in Dublin, said she
welcomed the new universal guidelines but that bishops have little
expertise or experience in recognising child abuse. "We have had
several cases in Ireland where the Church was slow to respond
hiding behind the data protection act and it is just not
acceptable that reporting an allegation is at the discretion of a
bishop," she said.