Vatican document says new clerics should know laws but duty is to act on issues internally. The Catholic church is telling newly appointed
bishops that it is “not necessarily” their duty to report accusations of
clerical child abuse and that only victims or their families should
make the decision to report abuse to police.
A document that spells out how senior clergy members
ought to deal with allegations of abuse, which was recently released by
the Vatican, emphasised that, though they must be aware of local laws, bishops’ only duty was to address such allegations internally.
