Zollner, who is a leading expert in child protection and one of the chief organisers of February's summit on child protection, says the Church's responsibility to obey the laws of the land was clarified several years ago.

He says in 2011 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith told every bishops' conference that the Church must obey civil laws regarding cases of abuse.

"So, if a state - in a durably democratic, regulated and legitimate situation - arrives at the conclusion that a representative of the Church, whether a deacon, priest, bishop or cardinal has committed a crime, this must not only be respected, it must be accepted.

"This must be the norm of the Church."

Zollner says since the February summit several bishops' conferences have already have revised or begun revising their guidelines for protecting children and handling abuse allegations.

In doing so, some have revised their guidelines to find and implement ways of "cooperating with Civil Authorities".

Zollner says many Conference presidents were reduced to tears when they heard testimonies of survivors of child sexual abuse at the summit and some are seeking the help of the Centre for Child Protection in the formation of Church personnel on the ground.

In addition, projects promised by the Vatican will soon be bearing fruit, he says.

One such project involves promulgation of guidelines for the Vatican City State.

Another is a "vademecum" or handbook the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been developing. It will explain in a step-by-step process, how bishops and religious superiors should handle abuse allegations. It will also include advice as to how they should prepare the relevant documents for the doctrinal congregation when an accusation is found to be credible.

There is no longer any question of people being protected because of their status in the Church.

The guilty verdicts against Cardinals George Pell and Philippe Barbarin demonstrate that church officials, including cardinals, are "no longer untouchable" and that governments will apply the law to them as well, Zollner says.

Pell is maintaining his innocence and is appealing his conviction.

Source

• Crux Now
• Vatican News
• Image: Wikipedia

As the author of a book on the Preynat scandal (Histoire d'une silence) who was seeking to understand how the Church managed to remain silent and in denial so long, the answer is undoubtedly, yes.

The reason is because the verdict holds the institution accountable and forces prelates to now consider the pain of victims, including in historical matters.

Secondly, it is because it concludes the long pathway of several ex-scouts, who dared to expose their wounds to public opinion by taking up this battle in an effort to ensure that their own children will never experience anything similar.

A lesson in humility

When I started writing my book, my objective was certainly not to obtain the resignation of the archbishop of Lyon.

As a journalist, and also as a Catholic from Lyon, my aim was to analyze the mechanisms behind the cover up of crimes, the complicity of successive hierarchies, the cowardice of several priests, the irresponsibility of parents and the subservience of the faithful.

I admired the determination of the victims and their legal battles even though I knew that their persistence was difficult for many Catholics to accept.

Thanks to them, I came to appreciate that the Church would never overcome this crisis on its own.

That is exactly what the court's decision last week has just confirmed. Catholics finally began to budge only because they were criticized, heckled and even abused by people and outside bodies.

The Church does have something to offer to the world. However, it must first listen to the world. So this has also been a lesson in humility.

The silence of the criminal

As an ex-scout myself who knew Father Preynat, when I started writing my book, I began to ask questions.

What kind of misery lay behind the vaguely scornful grin of the person who terrorized us even as we simultaneously admired him? The man who was an educator for some but an executioner for others?

Now that media attention has turned towards Cardinal Barbarin, I think of this ex-scout chaplain, who is no doubt staying somewhere in Lyon but who has still never expressed himself publicly.

Yet he is a man who has jolted the whole French Church and dismayed the whole Diocese of Lyon.

The action of the Parole Libérée (Speak Out) group has brought an end to the Church's silence. Except in the case of one person, namely Father Preynat, the criminal, whose trial we are still awaiting.

Isabelle de Gaulmyn
France

• Frist published in LaCroix International.
• Image: LaDepeche.fr

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon announced the standing down of Fr Hervé Benoît last Friday.

The priest had written a column posted to a traditionalist website in which he strongly criticised the California rock group, Eagles of Death Metal, who were playing at the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people were killed on November 13.

Fr Benoît also spoke out against the band's audience.

"Look at the photos of the audience moments before the drama," the article read.

"These poor children of the lefty generation, in an ecstatic trance . . . they are the living dead.

"Their killers, these zombies, are their Siamese twins.

"It's so obvious! . . .Same childishness, same lack of culture . . . Violence, sex, drugs, making a racket . . . you invoke the devil for a laugh? He will take you seriously."

Fr Benoît also appeared to equate the deaths of those gunned down by terrorists with abortion, saying: "130 deaths, that's awful! And 600 deaths, what is that? That's the number of abortions in France on the same day. Where is the horror?"

The priest had been a chaplain at Lyon's Fourvière Basilica.

Bishop Armand Maillard of Bourges, said: "The tone of this column does not show the attitude of a pastor who meets, listens to and accompanies people in suffering, it does not show an attitude of grace."

Cardinal Barbarin said he had met Fr Benoît, had listened to him, and, along with his bishop, decided to relieve the priest of all pastoral duties in the diocese.

The cardinal said he had urged Fr Benoît to "withdraw to an abbey to take time to pray and reflect".

A petition on the site "Change.org" demanding the priest be deposed had reached over 42,000 signatures by the time of Friday's announcement.

The organisers of the petition wrote: "There's a lot of talk about extremism linking it to Islam, let's not forget that it exists in all religions".

Sources

• The Local.Fr
• Image: Huffington Post