It was the sort of headline which only appears in the nightmares of Vatican press officers. “Pope quietly trims sanctions for paedophile priests,” Associated Press reported last week.
The reality was that Francis had overruled several recommendations by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican department charged with disciplining priests guilty of abuse. Instead of being laicised, these priests were sentenced to a lifetime of prayer and penance, and were merely removed from active ministry.
