The Vatican Dicastery for Legislative Texts strongly cautioned against publishing “news” that would harm the reputation of an individual, especially someone who is deceased, when it comes to priests accused of abuse and not found guilty in civil or canonical procedures.
The right to defend oneself and the principles of presumed innocence until proven guilty must be protected and guaranteed, said a letter signed by Archbishop Filippo Iannone, prefect of the dicastery, and Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, dicastery secretary.
They also said the Church must uphold the principle of the non-retroactivity of crime, that is, that no person can be criminally responsible under a law or statute for conduct before that law enters into force.
Another “undeniable legal foundation” for forbidding this practice, they wrote, is Pope Francis who wrote: “It is necessary to prevent the lists of the accused being published, even by dioceses, before the preliminary investigation and the definitive condemnation.”
That statement was one of 21 “reflection points” the pope gave bishops and religious superiors at the 2019 Vatican summit on protecting minors in the Church. The pope connected that point to “the right to defense: the principle of natural and canon law of presumption of innocence must also be safeguarded until the guilt of the accused is proven.”
Therefore, the archbishop and bishop wrote, “the answer can only be negative with respect to divulging confidential news concerning anyone, especially in the case concerning deceased persons.”
Continue reading at Our Sunday Visitor