How Does the CDF Deal With Abuse Cases?

Pope Francis has restructured the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s central doctrine office, which also investigates sexual abuse cases that are reported to Rome. With the pope’s Feb. 14 declaration, which goes into effect immediately, the discipline part of the Congregation will become its own section, with its own secretary, separate from the doctrine section. And the doctrine section will have an updated purview that’s geared more towards evangelization, in line with the pope’s ongoing reforms of the Roman Curia.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle explain the changes to the C.D.F. and how they fit into Pope Francis’ larger goal of evangelization.

“[The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith] has two tasks, one to deal with the discipline, with the abuse question, which is torpedoing the real possibility of evangelization. The second is to develop new thinking in the theological field, to enable it to address the challenges that are coming from the world of science, the development of peoples, the cultures, and that are challenges to the church,” Gerry explains.

Colleen and Gerry also examine the urgency of the changes, particularly as the C.D.F. faces a backlog of 4,500 sexual abuse cases with only 18 staff members to investigate them.

Links from the show:

Pope Francis issues major overhaul of the C.D.F.

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