The Vatican has revised its internal policies, making it easier to discipline sex-abuser priests. However, as reported by the New York Times and Boston Globe, the changes are causing confusion by also stating that ordaining women as priests was as grave an offense as pedophilia. The measures fell short of the hopes of many advocates for victims of priestly abuse, who dismissed them as “tweaking” rather than a bold overhaul. The new rules do not, for example, hold bishops accountable for abuse by priests on their watch, nor do they require them to report sexual abuse to civil authorities.
