The Vatican is issuing new guidelines for handling accusations of sexual abuse. We shall see how stringent they are, how much they are followed, and whether there are any consequences for bishops who do not follow them.
Sandro Magister at Chiesa has some comments on the canonical aspects of the procedures, and he is obviously unhappy that the process has been sped up. One remake he made is ominous for the future.
In a country like the United States of America, the transition has been made from a phase of permissiveness in dealing with the phenomenon of pedophilia, in both the civil and ecclesiastical camps, to a phase of generalized “zero tolerance,” Puritan in spirit.
Many Europeans dismiss Americans who reject to their children being raped as “Puritan.” Europeans applauded Roman Polanski and couldn’t imagine why he should be punished for having sex with a young girl.
The Vatican is staffed by Europeans – they pick up European sexual attitudes, and regard Americans as Puritans who do not understand it is silly to punish a priest who has sex with children. European pedophiles blame the FBI and American fundamentalists for reversing the growing tolerance that pedophilia was experiencing in modern Europe.