Pope Francis has approved the creation of an internal Church tribunal empowered to punish bishops who cover up sex abuse by priests, the Vatican said today.

Under the reform, bishops suspected of protecting paedophile clerics or of failing to respond promptly to allegations of abuse face being charged with “abuse of episcopal office” under canon law, the Church’s internal set of rules.

The move follows a recommendation from the Vatican’s child protection commission, a body which includes victims of paedophile priests among its lay members and was set up last year with a brief to root out sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

The panel’s recommendation was also recently endorsed by the C9 group of cardinals who advise Francis.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, which has been rocked by waves of sexual abuse scandals, told reporters the new tribunal should tackle cases from the past.

“I think that justice is indeed retrospective,” said Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, whose predecessor Cardinal Sean Brady resigned last year after claims he failed to act on abuse.

“When it comes to something like child safeguarding just because something happened a long time ago doesn’t mean you’re not accountable for it now.”

The reform was greeted with scepticism by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which warned that the Church’s record meant it could not be relied upon to hold bishops to account.
“As long as clerics are in charge of dealing with other clerics who commit and conceal child sex crimes, little will change,” said the campaign group president, Barbara Blaine. (AFP)