Pope Francis Strengthens Laws Against Child Abuse At The Vatican

Pope Francis Strengthens Laws Against Child Abuse At The Vatican

A press release from the Vatican said that the recently elected Pope Francis has hardened legislation against child abuse as of this Thursday within the grounds of the small state.

Even though child abuse was already illegal in the Vatican city-state, the Pope strengthened legislation, making child physical or sexual abuse of any kind completely illegal.

With a small population but a huge number of tourists, the city-state has also widened the definition of child abuse to include child prostitution and child pornography.

This was Pope Francis’ first legislative directive, also called “Moto Proprio”, a move that gained the new Pope a lot of sympathizers and made him one of the most influential and well regarded people in world politics.

This isn’t the only law that the new Pope want’s to strengthen as he also said that the Vatican has a plan to put in place tougher laws against money laundering and terrorism.

The aim of the Pope is to make crimes committed by Roman Curia members and employees outside of the Vatican indictable by its judicial system.

This is one of the Vatican’s biggest issues as of late and a problem Pope Francis inherited from his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who was strongly criticized for his lack of action in some child abuse cases.

Posted by James Fried on Sunday July 14 2013, 3:27 AM EST. Ref: csmonitor. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0