Reporting child abuse in the church

THERE are serious and profound changes taking place in the Catholic Church to acknowledge and prevent child sexual abuse by clerics and lay people. The number of priests convicted in the Philippines is zero. Clerical child abuse has become a crisis for the Church as an institution.

We celebrate this December Pope Francis's historic decree that approved a new law, Motu Proprio Vos estis lux mundi, to protect child victims and prosecute any clergy accused of child abuse. It covers bishops who covered up acts of abuse by priests or lay people. Every complaint of child abuse must be reported and investigated immediately and reported to the Church and the civil authorities.