The Plenary Assembly of Bishops has approved the Instruction on the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people, a document that serves as a “guide” for dioceses and religious congregations on how to act when reporting a case.
This was announced at a press conference by the Secretary General of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), César García Magán, who explained that the instruction includes the canonical norms on abuse and serves as “help material” for those who receive notification of a possible case.
As he has detailed, the document is “a kind of guide” on how to act when a signal has been received.
The first step is to carry out a preliminary investigation, then the Holy See is informed, which is the one that determines whether to proceed criminally or through administrative channels and indicates the steps to follow, as well as the precautionary measures that must be imposed. .
The EEC has been working on this instruction since 2019 and García Magán recalled that the November 2022 Plenary Assembly approved some ‘Guide Lines’ for action in cases of sexual abuse against minors that would be applied jointly in all dioceses.
In this Assembly it is approved as an Instruction for the Church and it is updated with the new provisions established in the definitive text of ‘Vos estis Lux mundi’, approved by Pope Francis and which will enter into force on April 30.
This document, which will be updated each time the current canonical regulations change, “reinforces the normative aspect of the document, which will have the force of norms and not just guidelines,” he stressed.
Thus, it will be mandatory both for the dioceses and for the laity who are in charge of religious institutions.
In addition, during the meeting of the Plenary Assembly, the bishops discussed the “Hospitality Corridors” project, which is coordinated by the Migration Department of the Episcopal Commission for Pastoral Care and Human Promotion and which has already been launched with experiences pilot projects aimed at young migrants who are left out of protection mechanisms.
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