In the preamble to his Apostolic Letter, Pope Francis states: "The crimes of sexual abuse offend Our Lord, cause physical, psychological and spiritual damage to the victims and harm the community of the faithful. In order that these phenomena, in all their forms, never happen again, a continuous and profound conversion of hearts is needed, attested by concrete and effective actions that involve everyone in the Church."110http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio-20190507_vos-estis-lux-mundi.html

The responsibility to prevent and confront such crimes in the Church, the Holy Father further declares, "falls, above all, on the successors of the Apostles, chosen by God to be pastoral leaders of his People, and demands from them a commitment to follow closely the path of the Divine Master."

Recognizing the desire of Pope Francis that "this commitment be implemented in a fully ecclesial manner," the bishops of Scotland reaffirm that, "in view of our shared and convinced belief that the gravity of the issue, the harm it has done to individuals, families and communities, and the means required to deal with it effectively all demand it"111In God's Image, para 1.7, page 5, each Bishop has promulgated the Instruction [of 'In God's Image'] by Decree for observance in his own territory. Further, each Bishop has endorsed the text below as Appendix 4 to 'In God's Image', pending any text revision when the ad experimentum period ends in March 2021.

In this Apostolic Letter, Pope Francis decrees certain elements of substantive law and procedural law affecting the responsibilities of, and obligations on, bishops, clergy, religious when reporting or investigating with "the crimes of sexual abuse".

1) Obliges clergy and religious, and permits everyone else, to report the following offences to the hierarchy, when they are committed by clerics or religious:

1. forcing someone112This "someone" doesn't need to be a minor or a vulnerable adult., by violence or threat or through abuse of authority, to perform or submit to sexual acts;
2. performing sexual acts with a minor or a vulnerable person;
3. the production, exhibition, possession or distribution, including by electronic means, of child pornography, as well as by the recruitment of or inducement of a minor or a vulnerable person to participate in pornographic exhibitions;

2) Obliges clergy and religious, and permits everyone else, to report to the hierarchy when bishops (and those in similar positions of authority in the Church) do any of the above or when they act, or refuse to act, with the intention of interfering with or avoiding civil or canonical investigations into allegations that a cleric or religious committed the offences listed above.

3) Requires the Bishops' Conference to have a system in place to manage such reports in an appropriate way and to protect those making the reports from retaliation (i.e. whistleblowing protection). The Bishops must inform the Nuncio within a year that they have this system in place.

4) Requires the Bishops to have a system in place to support the alleged victims.

In broad terms In God's Image, and our safeguarding practice, already covers all these points. Everyone in the Church in Scotland is already obliged to report all these offences, we already do have a system in place to receive and manage such reports, and we already have a system which assures that the data is properly protected, that those making accusations are treated properly, and that the victims are supported. These systems are set out in depth in In Gods Image.

In God's Image does not cover the episcopal interference issue, although the whole assumption behind its spirit is that bishops will act appropriately. This is a new issue for our safeguarding practice, although it is already a canonical crime for a bishop (or any other office-holder) to abuse his office [c.1389§1] or to harm another through culpable negligence in the way he exercises his office [c.1389§2].

A. If a bishop receives a complaint that he or another bishop113Or a Cardinal, Nuncio, Apostolic/Diocesan Administrator, Personal Prelate, Personal Ordinary, Vicar Apostolic, Prefect Apostolic, Supreme Moderator of an institute of consecrated life or society of apostolic life, or the head of a monastery sui iuris. has done one of the things listed in (1) or (2) above he must (regardless of how credible it is, and without prejudice to civil law obligations) send the complaint to both the Holy See and the Metropolitan of the accused.

• If the Metropolitan himself is accused, or if that see is vacant, the complaint is sent to the senior suffragan by promotion (i.e. the one who has been suffragan the longest) who must do everything that the Metropolitan would otherwise do.
• If the complaint is about the Nuncio, it is sent directly to the Secretariat of State.
• The accused bishop cannot be told about the accusation at this stage, although in many cases the accused may know anyway and may even be the initial recipient of the complaint.
• The Metropolitan cannot undertake any sort of preliminary investigation, beyond gathering the basic details of where, when, who, etc.

B. The Metropolitan must either (i) request that the Holy See allow him to investigate or (ii) tell the Holy See that he thinks that the Report is manifestly unfounded.

C. Within thirty days, the Holy See will tell the Metropolitan how to proceed or appoint someone else to investigate the Report.

• The Metropolitan is obliged to recuse himself if he thinks that there is a conflict of interest or if he thinks he cannot act impartially, and then follow the directions of the Holy See.

D. The Metropolitan, on his own or through others, must investigate the case in accordance with the rules in VELM and the instructions of the Holy See114The Conference may issue directives about how investigations are to be carried out and the provincial bishops may draw up lists of people who would be best placed to help the Metropolitan (e.g. safeguarding experts, civil and canon lawyers, investigators, etc.), who might be locals or be from elsewhere, but who must be impartial and free from conflicts of interest.. The Metropolitan must send the Holy See an update every thirty days. If the Holy See allows him, the Metropolitan may tell the accused and question him and allow him to present his defence, with the assistance of an Advocate.

E. Unless the Holy See directs otherwise, the investigation must be completed within ninety days, although the Metropolitan may ask the Holy See to extend this115If the police are looking into the matter, or civil proceedings are outstanding, the Metropolitan should ask the Holy See at the very beginning to pause the process until those matters are completed, although only the Holy See can decide whether to do so..

F. During the investigation the Metropolitan may ask the Holy See to adopt preliminary restrictions on the accused.

G. At the end of the investigation the Metropolitan must send all the acts (transcripts of interviews, copies of documents, etc.) to the Holy See, along with his written opinion on the veracity of the complaint, specifically answering any points raised by the Holy See in their instructions. The Holy See can order further instruction or can call on the Metropolitan to inform the accused of the outcome. Otherwise at this stage the Metropolitan's role is concluded.

H. The Holy See will then proceed to judge the complaint in accordance with the law.

March 2020