Pope Francis introduced reform legislation last week requiring all clerics and religious – men and women – to report abuse, cover-up, or suspicion of the same, to a higher authority.
Taking effect on June 1, the law establishes the “metropolitan system” for investigating allegations of abuse and coverup against bishops – so called because the law makes metropolitan archbishops responsible for conducting official inquiries into allegations against the bishops in their ecclesiastical provinces. Entitled Vos estis lux mundi (“You are the light of the world”) the law also requires every diocese in the world to have a stable desk for receiving and processing all complaints within a year of the law coming into force.
