This court – which does not replace civil justice – will have the function of dealing with cases of sexual assault on adults.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
The French episcopate installed, Monday, December 5 in Paris, a new structure in domestic law of the Catholic Church: a national canonical criminal court (TPCN), which will have the function, in particular, to deal ‘Sexual assaults on major. The creation of this court by the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) is part of the various measures decided to respond to scandals of sexual violence in the Church.
In addition to the cases of priests or laic guilty of sexual violence over adults, this TPCN – which does not replace civil justice – may also be seized cases of breach of trust, spiritual abuse, or of financial crimes, according to the CEF. On the other hand, he will not be competent for pedocrime cases, currently tried in the Vatican.
The shock report of the Sauvé commission, which had documented the magnitude of pedocrime in the Church, had recommended the “without delay” implementation of such a court, ensuring in particular to integration into its within “specially trained secular judges”. Of the thirteen members who took an oath on Monday, eight are priests and five are lay people.
damages to victims
“We are the only country to have for the Church a court specializing in criminal issues” and having “national jurisdiction”, assured Joseph de Metz-Noblat, bishop of Langres (Haute-Marne) and president of Advice for canonical questions at CEF. However, he admitted a “history in the Netherlands”, which includes only seven dioceses when France has a hundred.
Until now, the affairs of which the TPCN will be seized were of courts installed in each diocese (or prohibited courts). But he was criticized for the bishop for being both a judge and a party – he could be a judge of a priest of his own diocese – in a case. And the jurisdictions of the Church were not always equipped with sufficiently numerous or sufficiently trained personnel in canon law. With the TPCN, which will start to operate in January, the causes will be disoriented “which is a guarantee of independence”, it was assured at the CEF. All baptized, clerics or lay, can address him.
Pronounced penalties may be a ban on staying in a place, to exercise a ministry, deprivation of an office, even the referral of the clerical state or excommunication. The court may also condemn the culprit to pay damages to the victims civil parties at the trial.