Vatican prosecutor weighs in on sex abuse; article calls for end to statute of limitations in abuse cases

National Catholic Reporter, Feb 4, 2005 by John L. Allen, Jr.

While many of the church's judicial proceedings occur in secret, the Vatican's chief prosecutor, in a rare public commentary, has called for the elimination of any statute of limitations on sex abuse offenses, and has classified the possession of child pornography as a form of "sexual abuse."

He also suggests that sexual contact with a post-pubescent adolescent, albeit a minor under 18, may call for a different legal and pastoral response than the sexual abuse of a young child.

The comments from Msgr. Charles Scicluna, promoter of justice for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and hence the Vatican official with primary responsibility for handling sex abuse cases, came in an article published in the September 2004 issue of the newsletter of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

In the article, Scicluna, a Maltese priest, outlines his office's procedure for handling "grave delicts," meaning serious offenses under the Code of Canon Law, which as of a 2002 motu proprio, meaning a document under the pope's own authority, includes the sexual abuse of a minor. Scicluna also offered interpretation of various points.

Church law has never clearly defined "sexual abuse," but Scicluna explains the practice of his office in evaluating cases.

An offense "does not mean only physical contact or direct abuse, but includes indirect abuse also (for example: showing pornography to minors; lewd indecent exposure in front of minors)," Scicluna writes. "Included also is the possession of, or downloading from the Internet of, pedophilic pornography. This type of behavior is also a civil crime in some nations. While 'browsing' may be involuntary, it is difficult to see how 'downloading' could be considered so, since not only does it involve making a choice or choosing a specific option, but often involves payment by credit card and the furnishing of personal information by the purchaser which can be traced back to him. Some priests have been incarcerated for possession of thousands of pornographic photos of children and youths. According to the praxis of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, such behavior is considered a delictum gravius," that is, a "grave delict."

Recently the bishop of the Sankt Polten diocese in Austria resigned after thousands of images of child pornography were discovered on computers in the diocesan seminary.

Scicluna addresses the issue of prescription, the canonical term for a statute of limitations. Currently, the limit on sexual abuse charges is 10 years after the victim's 18th birthday, though the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has the authority to waive it, as has so far been routine practice with American cases.

"Experience has shown that a term of 10 years is inadequate for these types of cases, and it would be desirable to return to the former system in which these delicts were not subject to prescription at all," Sciculna writes.

Scicluna notes that some experts on sexuality distinguish among four kinds of attractions: pedophilia (an attraction to prepubescent children), ephebophilia (adolescents), homosexuality (adults of the same sex) and heterosexuality (adults of the opposite sex). He observes that some civil jurisdictions consider adolescents capable of giving consent to sexual activity.

The law of the church, on the other hand, "stigmatizes as a delict every violation of the Sixth Commandment with a minor under 18 years of age, whether based on pedophilia, ephebophilia, homosexuality or heterosexuality," Scicluna writes.

If the law makes no distinction, Scicluna suggests, officials may do so in the application of the law.

"This differentiation has nevertheless an importance from the psychological, pastoral and juridical points of view," he writes. "It helps, no doubt ... in grasping the gravity of the delict and choosing the path necessary for the reform of the guilty cleric, the reparation of scandal and the restitution of justice."

Scicluna also outlines the process to be followed in a case of alleged sexual abuse by a member of a religious order, which has been a matter of some ambiguity under existing norms.

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

Rome