Vatican abuse guidelines urge reporting to authorities
Cases of child sexual abuse have rocked the Catholic church in recent years.
Now the Vatican's toughened its guidance on the issue.
It's advising bishops to report cases of abuse of minors by priests to civil authorities even if they're not obliged to by local law
The advice is contained in a new 20-page "vademecum," or guidebook, issued on Thursday.
Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria explained the guidebook sets out the rules in a clear way to help bishops and religious superiors who are confronted with cases of sexual abuse of minors.
It contains some of the clearest language on reporting the issue ever in a Vatican document.
Previous Vatican documents required clerics to report cases of abuse to Church superiors, but said they should follow local law on whether they're obliged to report allegations to civil authorities.
For the past two decades Roman Catholic churches around the world have been hit by a raft of sexual abuse cases and spent billions of dollars in settlements.
