Sollicitation

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Sollizitation or Sollicitatio (Latin for excitement, seduction ), also crimen sollicitationis (Latin for the crime of seduction ), is a moral theological and canonical technical term for a sexual assault in the context of sacramental confession . In Catholic canon law, an attempt by a priest to use sacramental confession to seduce a penitent into a sin against the Sixth Commandment is subject to severe penalties.

history

A Vatican document of the Sacra Congregatio Sancti Officii (Holy Congregation of the Holy Office), today the Congregatio pro doctrina fidei (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), by Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val under Pope Pius XI , appeared in 1922 under the title Crimen sollicitationis . The document regulated the procedural norms according to the Codex Iuris Canonici of 1917, which in turn took up the Apostolic Constitution Sacramentum poenitentiae of Pope Benedict XIV of June 1, 1741. The Codex of 1917 also made it mandatory for the victim to report (can. 2368 §1 CIC).

The document was published in 1962 by Cardinal Alfred Ottaviani under Pope John XXIII. with regard to the XXI. Ecumenical Council (= Second Vatican Council ) updated. It has been available on the Vatican's website since March 20, 2010. It contained procedural norms to be followed by the bishops in cases of seduction of a confessor by the confessor , also in other cases of very serious sexual offenses such as the sexual abuse of minors. Today, in the Roman Catholic Church, the provisions of Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela (2001) apply , which were made known by the letter De delictis gravioribus and on May 21, 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI. were added.

Regulations

Both the offense and the desecration of the sacrament result in the excommunication of the perpetrator. The victim (penitent) is under threat of excommunication to report this act within four weeks to the responsible shepherd (bishop) or to the Holy Office .

The same norm applies to the “crimen pessimum” (homosexual acts) and sex with children or animals (Chapter V, Paragraph 73).

The appointment of ecclesiastical judges as well as the course of the investigation and the composition of the ecclesiastical court were regulated. The church punishments for a priest who is found guilty of the crimen sollicitationis range (in addition to excommunication or after its solution for a repentant offender) from suspension , the loss of dignity ( demotion ) and income to dismissal from the clergy . This is supplemented by special provisions: if recidivism is to be feared, constant monitoring must be ensured. Use in the same or a similar place should be prevented.

Everyone involved in the procedure is obliged to maintain the highest level of secrecy, especially in cases that affect the confidentiality of confession . This also applies to correspondence. Penalties for breach of secrecy include excommunication of the members of the ecclesiastical court, but not the victims and witnesses.

The version from 1962 includes around 20 forms that regulate the correspondence and the logging of a crimen sollicitationis and contain formulas for the oath of office and the condemnation.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is responsible as prosecuting authority and court .

reception

In civil trials for sexual assault by Catholic priests in the United States, plaintiffs' attorneys argued that the Crimen Sollicitationis document was evidence of obstruction of justice by the Catholic Church. Church line defenders argue that bishops were not prohibited from informing state authorities; the secrecy only applies to the process within the church .

Dominican Thomas Doyle , counselor and expert on ecclesiastical abuse cases in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Israel and the United Kingdom , said in an interview with the BBC in 2006 that the document was “an explicit written guideline to cover up sexual abuse Children by clergymen to punish those who wanted to draw attention to these crimes of the clergy ”. He later modified or corrected this opinion.

On March 13, 2010, the solicitor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Monsignor Charles J. Scicluna , gave an interview widely used by the Holy See in which he said, among other things: “A poor translation of this text into English gave the impression that it was the Holy See wanted to enforce secrecy to cover up the facts. But it was not like that. The secret of the investigation served to protect the good reputation of all persons involved, above all the good reputation of the victims themselves, and then also that of the accused clergy, who - like everyone - have the right to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise. The church does not love spectacle justice. The rules on sexual abuse have never been understood as a prohibition to file a complaint with the civil authorities. "

See also

Others

Crimen Sollicitationis was harshly condemned in 2008 in the song of the same name by the Spanish band Ska-P .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dictionary entry Latin-German on "sollicitatio". Karl Ernst Georges: Comprehensive Latin-German concise dictionary. Hannover 1918 (reprint Darmstadt 1998), Volume 2, Col. 2714.
  2. ↑ CIC can. 1387; Heribert Jone : Katholische Moraltheologie , 11th edition, Paderborn 1940, p. 591 ff.
  3. ↑ Tom Doyle, The 1962 Vatican Instruction Crimen Sollicitationis , No. 22 ( Memento of July 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 153 kB), version 2006.
  4. ↑ a b Unofficial translation by the Holy See itself.
  5. ↑ LThK , Vol. 9 Column 8/8, Herder 1964
  6. ^ Joshua J. McElwee: Accused priest resigns from Vatican's doctrinal congregation. In: National Catholic Reporter , January 29, 2019, accessed the same day.
  7. ↑ Crimen sollicitationis Nos. 1-2.
  8. ↑ Crimen sollicitationis No. 29-60.
  9. ^ Taz report on layoffs
  10. ↑ Crimen sollicitationis No. 61–65.
  11. ^ Biography of Doyle
  12. ↑ Sex crimes and the Vatican: "an explicit written policy to cover up cases of child sexual abuse by the clergy, to punish those who would call attention to these crimes by the churchmen"
  13. ↑ The 1962 Vatican Instruction "Crimen Sollicitationis" ( Memento of July 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) from November 2006. In October 2008, he published an extensive update and improvement ( Memento of July 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 188 kB ) of this comment.
  14. ^ Vatican: 300 pedophilia ads in nine years