Mexico City, Mexico, Jan 23, 2008 / 09:45 am
Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City announced this week that the Church supports a policy in which “ecclesial ministers who commit sexual crimes are severely punished by Church and civil law.”
In a message to the Symposium on Punishable Crimes Committed by the Clergy, organized by the Pontifical University of Mexico, the cardinal pointed out that “it is very appropriate that this matter, which is especially delicate because of the repercussions it carries, not only in relation to internal Church discipline but also because of the consequences that these actions garner from civil authorities, be a matter of calm, dispassionate and highly academic study.”
“It is necessary in these matters that there be precise knowledge of the crimes that are punishable, of the competence of Church authorities and the consequences that these punishable acts can have in relation to the entire people of God,” he added.
Cardinal Rivera stressed that those involved in sexual crimes “must be punished with greater severity, since those who commit these types of acts affect not only the victim, but also his or her family and the Church [and] cannot go unpunished.”