Pope John Paul II has quietly changed church law to make it easier for abusive priests to be removed from the priesthood

Christian Century, March 22, 2003

* Pope John Paul II has quietly changed church law to make it easier for abusive priests to be removed from the priesthood. He gave more authority to the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to "laicize" a priest if the priest admits the abuse, or if the offense is particularly serious.

The rule change, made February 7, allows the priest to be removed without a church trial, an option that had previously been available only to the pope himself. In addition, the pope will now allow trained lay people or deacons to serve on church tribunals, a role previously restricted to priests. "I think they want to make the procedures as user-friendly as possible," Francis Maniscalco, spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the New York Times. "They are taking into account that not every bishop has the resources" for tribunals composed only of priests. The decision, first reported by the National Catholic Reporter, is an outgrowth of rules on sex abuse adopted last year by U.S. bishops.