Victims of pedophile priests reacted with dismay Monday after new guidelines from the Vatican insisted bishops, rather than the police, should deal with child abuse cases in the first instance.
A document drawn up by Cardinal William Levada, the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, concludes the responsibility for dealing with child abuse cases within the Church "belongs in the first place to bishops".
In the past, there have been repeated accusations of cover-ups by the Church and bishops have been found to have shielded child abusers. The Vatican claimed that the document, to be circulated to all clergy worldwide, was "an important new step" to cleanse the Church of recurring child abuse scandals.
"This document is simply meaningless words – they have been forced to act but it is not enough," said Marco Lodi Rizzini, a spokesman for an Italian victim-support group. "The Vatican has said it will co-operate with the authorities before, but only because it has been forced to."
Mr Rizzini pointed to a case that has recently emerged in the northern Italian city of Genoa, in which a 50-year-old priest has been arrested by police investigating a drugs and sex ring. Though Church leaders suspended Father Riccardo Seppia, there were claims the Vatican had been warned of his behaviour. Piercarlo Casassa, a retired priest, said: "I told the Church about him in 1994 but was ignored. I told them he was not the right person to have around youngsters."
Maeve Lewis, of the One in Four support group in Dublin, welcomed the new guidelines but said bishops had little expertise or experience in recognizing child abuse. "It is not acceptable that reporting an allegation is at the discretion of a bishop," she said.
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