Abuse in the Church

Why should anyone trust it after that?

The Church does not ask to be trusted on the holiness of her ministers. She calls herself “at once holy and always in need of purification”, and all her members, “including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners”. CCC 827 What does not depend on the minister is the sacrament: Christ’s presence in him does not preserve him from “error, even sin”, but the guarantee “extends to the sacraments, so that even the minister’s sin cannot impede the fruit of grace”. CCC 1550 A baptism or an absolution given by a priest later found guilty still stands.

Wrong done by those in authority counts as graver, not lighter. Scandal “takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized”, and it is scandal against the little ones that drew from Christ the words about the millstone. CCC 2285 Whoever uses power so that it leads others to do wrong is “responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged”. CCC 2287

Church law makes abuse a crime. A cleric who commits a sexual offence with a minor or with a person who habitually lacks the use of reason, who grooms one, or who holds pornographic images of minors is to be punished, up to dismissal from the clerical state; the same canon reaches religious, and any lay person who holds an office in the Church. Can. 1398 Abusing an office, and culpable negligence in it that harms another, are crimes of their own. Can. 1378 Prosecution is possible for twenty years from the victim’s eighteenth birthday, and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith can set that limit aside in any case; these cases are excepted from the pontifical secret. Norms on Delicts Reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Reports of abuse, and of those who cover it up, are handled under a later law of Pope Francis. Francis, motu proprio Vos estis lux mundi, 25 March 2023

Abuse of a minor “is not just a canonical delict but also a crime prosecuted by civil law”, and the civil law on reporting it “should always be followed”, the seal of confession excepted. Circular Letter to Assist Episcopal Conferences in Developing Guidelines for Dealing with Cases of Sexual Abuse of Minors 3 And the Church, in the person of the bishop, “should be prepared to listen to the victims and their families, and to be committed to their spiritual and psychological assistance”. Circular Letter to Assist Episcopal Conferences in Developing Guidelines for Dealing with Cases of Sexual Abuse of Minors

These paragraphs are not in the Catechism’s own order. The one that answers the question directly is placed first; none has been left out.

2285

Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Mt 18:6; Cf. 1 Cor 8:10-13. Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing. Cf. Mt 7:15.

2284

Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. the person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.

2286

Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion. Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to "social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible." Pius XII, Discourse, June 1, 1941. This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger, Cf. Eph 6:4; Col. 3:21. or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values.

2287

Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged. "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!" Lk 17:1.

827

"Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. the Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal." LG 8 # 3; Cf. UR 3; 6; Heb 2:17; 726; 2 Cor 5:21. All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. Cf. 1 Jn 1:8-10. In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time. Cf. Mt 13:24-30. Hence the Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ's salvation but still on the way to holiness:

The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul VI, CPG # 19.

1550

This presence of Christ in the minister is not to be understood as if the latter were preserved from all human weaknesses, the spirit of domination, error, even sin. the power of the Holy Spirit does not guarantee all acts of ministers in the same way. While this guarantee extends to the sacraments, so that even the minister's sin cannot impede the fruit of grace, in many other acts the minister leaves human traces that are not always signs of fidelity to the Gospel and consequently can harm the apostolic fruitfulness of the Church.

1395

§ 1. A cleric living in concubinage, other than in the case mentioned in can. 1394, and a cleric who continues in some other external sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue which causes scandal, is to be punished with suspension. To this, other penalties can progressively be added if after a warning he persists in the offence, until eventually he can be dismissed from the clerical state.

§ 2. A cleric who has offended in other ways against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue, if the offence was committed in public, is to be punished with just penalties, not excluding dismissal from the clerical state if the case so warrants.

§ 3. A cleric who by force, threats or abuse of his authority commits an offence against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue or forces someone to perform or submit to sexual acts is to be punished with the same penalty as in § 2.

1398

§ 1. A cleric is to be punished with deprivation of office and with other just penalties, not excluding, where the case calls for it, dismissal from the clerical state, if he:

1° commits an offence against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue with a minor or with a person who habitually has an imperfect use of reason or with one to whom the law recognises equal protection;

2° grooms or induces a minor or a person who habitually has an imperfect use of reason or one to whom the law recognises equal protection to expose himself or herself pornographically or to take part in pornographic exhibitions, whether real or simulated;

3° immorally acquires, retains, exhibits or distributes, in whatever manner and by whatever technology, pornographic images of minors or of persons who habitually have an imperfect use of reason.

§ 2. A member of an institute of consecrated life or of a society of apostolic life, or any one of the faithful who enjoys a dignity or performs an office or function in the Church, who commits an offence mentioned in § 1 or in can. 1395 § 3 is to be punished according to the provision of can. 1336 §§ 2-4, with the addition of other penalties according to the gravity of the offence.

1378

§ 1. A person who, apart from the cases already foreseen by the law, abuses ecclesiastical power, office, or function, is to be punished according to the gravity of the act or the omission, not excluding by deprivation of the power or office, without prejudice to the obligation of repairing the harm.

§ 2. A person who, through culpable negligence, unlawfully and with harm to another or scandal, performs or omits an act of ecclesiastical power or office or function, is to be punished according to the provision of can. 1336 §§ 2-4, without prejudice to the obligation of repairing the harm.

From the Catechism

In the Code

From the Magisterium