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Agosto 08 2003, category: Misc, by: Yaelle
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/08/07/vatican.document/index.html

Friday, August 8, 2003 Posted: 9:33 AM EDT (1333 GMT)



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NEW YORK (CNN) -- A 1962 Vatican document -- kept in secret archives -- instructed dioceses all over the world to keep sexual misconduct in the church under wraps.

But the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said that using the document as a "smoking gun" to prove the existence of a "'ground plan' for 'covering up' the crime of sexual abuse of minors by clerics" is off-base. The church's guidance on the issue was revamped in 1983, the bishops said.

Issued on March 16, 1962, the document primarily refers to cases involving confession. It says, if a priest tries to solicit sex from someone who is trying to give their confession, then the allegation against the priest should be "pursued in a most secretive way ... under penalty of excommunication."

Religious Abuse?

Too Little! Too late!

Recently, you have seen the Catholic Church react to the numerous scandals it has caused. Whether they are accusations of pedophilia, rapes of nuns, abortions of nuns or financial scandals, there seems to be no end, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. Well, those American Cardinals were quite a sight as they paraded in front of their pope!