Vatican: do not publish lists of ‘credibly accused’ clerics
February 26, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: The Vatican has instructed dioceses that they should not publish lists of clerics who have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse—as many American dioceses have done—because the practice violates the rights of those who are accused.
The Dicastery for Legislative Texts—the Vatican body charged with the interpretation of canon law—said that the listing of priests who have been accused of abuse, “without the benefit of any exercise of the right to defense,” is unjust.
The Vatican body notes that a diocese might categorize a priest as “credibly accused” if a preliminary investigation shows no reason to dismiss the charge immediately. That “relatively low standard of proof” is not sufficient reason to expose the individual to “concrete detriment and existential damage of those personally involved, especially if inaccurate, or even unfounded or false” charges have been made.
The listing of “credibly accused” priests is particular unjust, the dicastery says, if those accused are deceased, cannot defend themselves, and obviously pose no danger to the community.
The Vatican instruction was issued in a September 2024 letter, and posted online last week.
Bowing to pressure from victims’ groups, many American dioceses have issued such lists of “credibly accused” priests, despite earlier admonitions from Rome.
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