What Were The 2011 Updates To The Bishops Charter?

U.Southward. Cosmic bishops revise guidelines against sexual practice abuse

The Catholic Church has faced many accusations of child abuse in the past decades across the U.S. and Europe.

The Cosmic Church building has faced many accusations of child corruption in the past decades across the U.S. and Europe.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The charter says child pornography is against church law
Critics say the lease does non get in enough
The Vatican says only a tiny percent of priests corruption children
Pope Benedict Xvi issued new rules last twelvemonth aimed at stopping corruption

Seattle, Washington (CNN) -- To fight kid abuse by priests, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops revised its 2002 lease Th, the group said.

Child pornography is a criminal offense confronting church police and the corruption of someone who is mentally disabled is equivalent to kid abuse, the conference said in a statement on its revised Charter for the Protection of Children and Immature People.

The charter was created to battle the sexual abuse of minors by clerics, the conference said.

The revisions, passed during the bishops' full general assembly in Seattle, coincide with new standards the Vatican issued in May regarding child abuse at the easily of Catholic leaders. The vote was 187-5, with four abstaining, the briefing said.

Critics say the changes, and the charter itself, practise not make it enough.

"The crux of the crisis continues to exist the nearly limitless ability of bishops," said David Clohessy, an activist for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "Bishops tin can make all the pledges they want. Until Catholic employees who ignore and conceal child sex crimes or violate the policy are punished, nil will change," he said.

Church officials differed.

"The lease has served the church well," Bishop Blase J. Cupich said at the briefing Wednesday, the Catholic News Service reported. "It is a helpful tool as we keep our pledge to protect children, promote healing and rebuild trust."

Clohessy said the 2002 guidelines, which instruct bishops and other religious leaders to "study an allegation of sexual abuse" of a minor to "the public authorities," are not enforced.

"Information technology's akin to having speed limits with no cops," Clohessy said. "If no one e'er gets a ticket, condom won't improve."

The Cosmic Church building has faced many accusations of child corruption in the past decades across the U.Due south. and Europe.

In the U.s., viii Catholic dioceses and i Jesuit order filed for bankruptcy protection in response to lawsuits from victims, co-ordinate to Bishop Accountability, which tracks reports of abuse by priests.

The Vatican says only a tiny percentage of priests abuse children, and that it is taking steps to fight the problem, including defrocking priests or forcing them into positions where they do not accept contact with the public.

Pope Bridegroom Sixteen issued new rules last year aimed at stopping abuse.

They included doubling the statute of limitations on the church building's own prosecution of suspected molesters from 10 to 20 years, making it a church crime for a priest to download child pornography, and allowing the pope to defrock a priest without a formal Vatican trial.