Reference is made to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s article “Paedophile priests are Caesar’s responsibility, not God’s” (TMIS, 29 January).

The Church’s Response Team concerning allegations of sexual abuse would like to state the following.

The Response Team does not in any way try to prevent or to dissuade any complainant who reports an abuse to it from reporting that abuse to the police. To date, in the great majority of cases, the complainant clearly states that he would not report the abuse to the Response Team unless he is given an assurance that neither the police nor the media is made aware of the matter. Even in these cases, the Response Team tells the complainant straight out, as it is its policy to do so in every case, that he is at liberty to report the matter to the police at any time.

It is incomprehensible that such procedures are considered as putting priests above or beyond the law, as excluding the intervention of the police is an abuse of the democratic process, as making the laws of the Catholic Church take precedence over the laws of the land and the principles of democracy, as undermining democracy, law and order and human rights, as interfering in the workings of the State, and as the Church insisting on having a monopoly of the investigation, as Mrs Caruana Galizia seems to consider it.

Like any citizen, the Church is not bound by law to report the matters in question to the police. Certainly the Church has the moral duty not to divulge to anyone such matters complainants have confided in it. Without doubt she has this duty even in those cases where an abuse is found to have been committed.

For the sake of accuracy, it must be pointed out that of the more than 80 cases reported to the Response Team, approximately half were about child molestation. The other half concerned alleged abuse between adults. Moreover, roughly one third was abuse allegedly committed by lay people. Furthermore, there were no cases that “remained ambiguous” or were deemed to be “unjust accusations” by the Response Team.

Mrs Caruana Galizia states in reference to a particular priest that “the Response Team” interviewed the parents of the molested children”. Of course, the Response Team does not comment. As has been repeatedly stated and explained, the proceedings of the Response Team are conducted in camera and are confidential, in accordance with Canon Law and with the norms issued by the Holy See in November 2001.

Charles Buttigieg

PRO

Archbishop’s Curia / Response Team