New Vatican law criminalises abuse of adults by priests and laypeople

The Vatican also criminalised the “grooming” of minors or vulnerable adults by priests to compel them to engage in pornography

Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he recites the Regina Caeli noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican last April. Picture: AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

Pope Francis has changed church law to explicitly criminalise the sexual abuse of adults by priests who abuse their authority and to say that laypeople who hold church office can be sanctioned for similar sex crimes.

The new provisions, released on Tuesday after 14 years of study, were contained in the revised criminal law section of the Vatican’s Code of Canon Law, the in-house legal system that covers the 1.3-billion strong Catholic Church.