Pope forces clergy to report sexual assault to church

Pope Francis on Thursday changed the canon law to make it mandatory to report any suspicion of sexual assault or harassment to the Church hierarchy, discredited by a series of scandals on a large scale.

The "motu proprio", a letter issued directly by the pope that modifies the internal legislation of the universal Church (canon law), also obliges to report any attempt by the Catholic hierarchy to cover sexual abuse perpetrated by a priest or a religious .

It also includes all the dioceses of the world to set up, within a year, a system allowing the public to report cases of aggression. And details the conduct of internal investigations to be conducted locally within 90 days and then forwarded to the Vatican for a possible trial.

In the introduction to his apostolic letter "You are the light of the world", the pope emphasizes that the Church must "continue to learn bitter lessons from the past," particularly in reference to the pedophile scandals that have recently rocked Chile , the United States, Australia or Europe...........