Reporting abusers to civil justice would mean admitting that the Church's justice system does not work. This striking declaration escaped Cardinal Zuppi himself on La7, and not in an off-air moment, but during an interview for a special on Pope Francis one year after his death. The president of the Italian bishops has candidly stated what he truly thinks about transparency regarding clerical abuse: far from reporting pedophiles to civil justice, as urged by the motu proprio Vos Estis Lux Mundi, going to the police means having done something wrong. The Church, once again, can and must judge itself, without external interference. However, civil justice and ecclesiastical justice are not interchangeable as Zuppi would have us believe, because ecclesiastical tribunals do not sentence those responsible to imprisonment; at most they defrock them: "we must be able to judge ourselves" does not mean being severe with oneself but practicing an omertà of mafia-like style.

Far from independent investigations and justice for victims: here are the true guidelines of the CEI on abuse in the Church, translated plainly by Cardinal Zuppi during an interview with Ezio Mauro that aired on La7.

I discussed this with Ludovica Eugenio, who reported the incident on Adista in a brief article, which I reproduce below.

Cardinal Zuppi: "if civil authorities must be involved in abuse cases, something is wrong..."

Ludovica Eugenio

ROME-ADISTA. Those who work on abuse in the Church did not miss the response given by Card. Matteo Zuppi to journalist Ezio Mauro during the special program "Francis - Chronicles of a Papacy" that aired on La7 on April 20th. Zuppi, asked about Francis's action on the abuse question and in particular about resorting to civil authorities in reporting, stated unequivocally that turning to the latter would mean admitting that something is not working in the Church. Zuppi, therefore, does not seem to consider recourse to the Public Prosecutor's Office a duty, even a moral one, as stated by Pope Francis in the motu proprio Vos estis Lux Mundi: it would rather be an admission of weakness.

Below is the transcript of the exchange, at minute 59 of the special, visible on the La7 website

Ezio Mauro: Your Eminence, regarding sexual abuse committed by priests, Francis has continued the line of reporting and condemnation of Pope Benedict, but according to some he kept the matter within the Church without achieving complete transparency by engaging civil authorities. In your opinion, could more have been done?

Zuppi: With him truly I would not know what could have been done more, then all of us must do more, because he was very rigorous. The problem of collaboration with civil authorities is somewhat more complicated. Because if we are not able to judge ourselves, to examine ourselves, it means there is really something wrong. I would say that on this Pope Francis was nonetheless very rigorous, and also in listening to the victims. If you listen to suffering you realize it and with more determination you change.

* Photo by Francesco Pierantoni from Wikimedia Commons, original image and license