Why go to the church and not to the police?

This item of Vatican news appeared in the press on Thursday and Friday.

Confusing. Surely if a citizen of a state has knowledge of abuse she/he is obliged to report it to the police authority of the state in question. At least so in a properly-run democracy.

In the case of Ireland the person would report the matter to the Garda.

Why would one report the matter to a bishop or provincial?

Sisters, brothers, priests are citizens.

The church is not a police force.

Below is the reported press release.

The “Motu Proprio”, a legal document issued under the pope’s personal authority, declares that anyone who has knowledge of abuse, or suspects it, is “obliged to report (it) promptly” to the Church, using “easily accessible systems”.

“Though this obligation was formerly left up to individual consciences, it now becomes a universally established legal precept” within the Church, said Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Vatican’s communications department.

The law only applies within the Church and has no force to oblige individuals to report abuse to civil authorities.

Under the new measure, every diocese around the world is obliged by June 2020 to create a system for the reporting of sexual abuse by clerics, the use of child pornography and cover-ups of abuse.