Pontifical Secret Sexual Abuse
In December of 2019 the Vatican issued an instruction called On the Confidentiality of Legal Proceedings which essentially removed the pontifical secrecy rule related to clergy sexual abuse or misconduct cases. The directive by the Vatican should help ease communication between church officials and civil authorities around the globe regarding abuse cases.
What is the Pontifical Secret or Papal Secrecy?
This is the rule that governs confidentially and protection of sensitive information regarding the governance of the universal church. Think along the lines of an attorney-client privilege or “classified” documents in a governmental sense.
This ‘rule’ has long been the complaint of survivors and lawyers who say it’s the way the Catholic church was able to hide and cover up priest molestations and allow pedophiles priests to continue preying on young victims.