Bishop Daniel DiNardo of the Sioux City Diocese held a press conference today to talk about his trip to the U-S Catholic Bishops conference last week in Dallas. DiNardo says any priest who abuses a child in the future will be not only removed from the pulpit but will be removed from the ranks of the clergy, which DiNardo calls being “laicized” In cases that happened in the past, most will also be removed, but their age and health will be taken into consideration. Bishop DiNardo compares it to losing professional standing in a career.DiNardo says it’s sort of like having a priests “license” revoked.As for removal from the “clerical state,” the bishop says that’s a matter for to church leaders in Rome. The most severe sanctions are for cases where it’s proven a priest abused a minor.If it’s a minor, the case is immediately handed over to the police and that move also will be considered if the abused person is an adult. Bishop DiNardo says the church leaders are deeply divided and even after the chance to apologize and correct past wrongs, some bishops are “mad at” other bishops who came to the conference.
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