Pope Francis on Saturday updated a 2019 church law aimed at holding senior churchmen accountable for covering up sexual abuse cases, expanding it to cover lay Catholic leaders and reaffirming that vulnerable adults and not just children can be victims of abuse when they are unable to freely consent.
With the update, Francis reaffirmed and made permanent temporary provisions that were passed in a moment of crisis for the Vatican and Catholic hierarchy. The 2019 law was praised at the time for laying out precise mechanisms to investigate complicit bishops and religious superiors.
The expansion is a response to the many cases that have come to light in recent years of lay leaders abusing their authority to sexually exploit people under their spiritual care or authority, most recently the L'Arche federation of Jean Vanier. The definition reads that a victim can be "any person in a state of infirmity, physical or mental deficiency, or deprivation of personal liberty which, in fact, even occasionally, limits their ability to understand or to want or otherwise resist the offence."
After realizing he had erred, Francis ordered up a full review of the Chilean abuse dossier, summoned the presidents of all the world's bishops' conferences to Rome for a four-day summit on safeguarding and set in motion plans for a new law to hold senior churchmen to account for abuse and cover-ups, and to mandate the reporting to relevant church authorities of all cases.
The update makes clear each diocese must have an office to receive complaints, a more specific requirement than the original call for a mere "system," such as an email address. The change derived from Francis' realization that many dioceses, particularly in poorer parts of the world, dragged their feet.
Survivors have long complained that the Vatican spent decades turning a blind eye to bishops and religious superiors who moved predator priests around from parish to parish rather than report them to police.
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