Sep 24, 2002 4 min read

VATICAN CITY (AP) – The Vatican is leaning toward giving the go-ahead to the U.S. bishops’ plan to combat sex abuse among clergy, accepting the proposals on an experimental basis, a senior Vatican official said Monday. Such a move by the Holy See would give Roman Catholic leaders in the United States time to enact their controversial reform policy without making permanent changes in church law.

In recent weeks, there have been a growing number of reports that the Vatican would reject the policy outright, embarrassing American bishops as they struggle to end the molestation crisis.

The policy “would not receive formal Vatican approval, but nor would it be a rejection,” said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Top Vatican officials have been reviewing the plan since it was adopted at a June meeting of America’s bishops, which followed a torrent of abuse claims and reports of bishops covering them up. The Holy See is expected to issue its response to the policy Oct. 10 or Oct. 11, the official said.

The Vatican’s response has not yet been completed and some clarifications could be sought, but the idea is to allow the bishops to go ahead as an experiment, the official said, putting the Vatican view of the U.S. bishops’ action in a positive light.

There has been growing concern that the policy could not withstand Vatican scrutiny. U.S. church lawyers, many priests and some officials in Rome have complained that the plan fails to protect the rights of accused clergy.

The Rev. Thomas Reese, author of “Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church,” said the Vatican’s approach would buy time for the bishops to see how the policy is working in dioceses, for the Holy See to conduct a thorough review and “for everybody to cool off.”

If the policy were immediately enshrined in church law for the United States, it could set a precedent for the church in other nations.

“I think it shows that the bishops were correct in their evaluation, that despite all the voices in the Vatican that raised questions about the (policy), the bishops knew there was only one voice they had to be concerned about and that was the pope’s, and it looks like the pope is going to back the bishops,” Reese said.

Monsignor Francis Maniscalco, spokesman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, declined to comment until the Holy See sends official word of its decision.

The Rev. Thomas Doyle, a church lawyer and former Washington-based Vatican adviser who now advocates for abuse victims, said Rome would be wise to take a slow approach.

Doyle is concerned that bishops, desperate to restore their credibility, have been ousting priests without regard to due process provisions in church law.

While the bishops did not present their proposal as an experiment, they did say that the plan would be reviewed two years after “recognitio” – meaning Vatican approval – was received.

Since reports of sexual abuse among clergy began rocking the American church in January, at least 300 priests have been removed from their ministries.

The provisions the U.S. bishops want the Holy See to approve include requiring dioceses to remove all guilty priests from church work, and, in some instances, from the priesthood itself.

It also demands that bishops report abuse of minors to civil authorities. The Vatican traditionally allows local bishops to have autonomy in handling their dioceses.

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said he remained worried about any changes Rome might require.

“What they call clarification, might be ripping the guts out of the charter,” he said.

While the U.S. bishops’ guidelines were aimed at creating an across-the-board approach in handling abuse scandals, the church in the United States is itself divided over policy.

Last month, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, which represents religious orders with about one-third of the 46,000 U.S. priests, decided to allow most abusers to continue in church work, away from parishioners.

When Pope John Paul II met with American cardinals in April, he called the sex abuse of children a crime and a sin and said there was no room in the priesthood for wayward clerics.

Speaking at World Youth Day in Toronto in July, John Paul said the scandal caused “sadness and shame.”