Rome, Italy, May 24, 2010 / 15:20 pm
The Catholic French historian Alain Besançon offered his perspective on whether or not sexually abusive priests should be subject to civil law in an interview over the weekend. There is the risk of taking the "wrong road" in dealing with cases, he cautioned, but to him, the decision to punish offenders in civil courts is "reasonable."
Italy's Il Foglio newspaper asked Besançon whether the Church runs the risk of blurring the lines that separate crimes from sins and, in doing so transform itself into just another "moral agency." To this question, Besançon replied, "Certainly this danger exists.
"The Church is always tempted to take a wrong street," he explained,"and it is not assumed that it can avoid this today."
He referred to a book he is currently reading which takes place in the 13th century Church during the Papacy of Boniface VII, "an apparently glorious age for the Church, but," he said, "scary in reality."