Pope Francis Updates Norms on Crimes Judged by Vatican’s Doctrinal Office

In addition to the crimes against the faith, the doctrinal congregation also judges crimes against the sacraments, including the desecration of a consecrated host, simulation of the Mass, solicitation to a sin against the sixth commandment during confession, and violation of the seal of confession.

Other grave delicts included in the norms are the attempted ordination of a woman, clerical abuse of a minor, and the possession of child pornography by a cleric.

“The changes that have been introduced mostly concern procedural aspects, aimed at clarifying and facilitating the proper conduct of the Church’s legal workings in the administration of justice,” reported Vatican News.

The major revisions to Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, which covers penal law in the Church, including sanctions related to clerical sexual abuse, go into effect on Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

The revisions were first commissioned by Benedict XVI to improve the efficacy of the code’s penal sanctions.

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Speaking after the revisions were published, Msgr. C. Michael Padazinski, president of the Canon Law Society of America, said: “This reinvigoration of canon law is a welcome necessity to our member canonists’ work on behalf of the Church and will be, as the Holy Father says, an instrument for the good of souls.”

“Recategorizing the crime of sexual abuse of a minor from a delict against celibacy to a delict against the dignity of the human person is a remarkable development. It shows a shift from a mindset of concern focused primarily on an accused cleric to a concern for the individual who has been harmed,” he said.

Padazinski also highlighted the significance of the revisions coming into effect on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The date “reaffirms that life itself and the protection of human dignity begin at the instant a child is conceived in the mother’s womb,” he said.

Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.