Respuesta eclesial y canónica a los abusos sexuales de menores bajo el impulso de J. Razinger, prefecto y Papa

Abstract

The sexual abuse of minors committed by the clergy is an affront to God, by the actions of the Church and its priests. It is a diabolical and criminal crime. It is also a phenomenon of the abuse of power in a particularly sensitive area. A treason that breaks the bond of trust. The poor handling of these abuses has resulted in the victims identifying Church as their abuser. This poor handling has been strongly criticized in recent years. The criticism has not only been present in the Media but also amongst a large part of the Christian family, who question particularly the bishops’ attitudes in these deplorable events. However, the Church has always considered sexual abuse of minors as a delict. In recent years the legal efforts in response to this delict and its new modalities (child pornography…) is enormous. Pope Benedict XVI contributed greatly to this effort, when he was Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. Our research begins with the sexual abuse scandals that came to light at the end of the 80’s in the USA; it includes a review of American ecclesiastical law in order to learn and develop universal laws, focusing in some of their significant aspects. The reader will be able to see in detail the data concerning this tragedy, the first laws that were applied and its results. The reader will also see the subsequent intensive legislative work by the Church, during these turbulent times. After, we focus on some relevant aspects of the legal norms which should be a subject of attention and revision, in order to adapt the canonical penal law to these changing times we are living. For this purpose, we offer abundant documentation, not only with respect to the law, but also concerning disciplinary and sanctioning measures. Our research presents with absolute sincerity and clarity, the firm action taken by Joseph Ratzinger, afterwards as Benedict XVI, in connection with sexual abuse delict committed by the clergy. Benedict XVI interventions have been translated to the laws and its praxis; resulting in that most of the ongoing complaints concern historical and not recent events