Przestępstwo wykorzystania seksualnego osób bezbronnych w Kościele katolickim. Analiza karno-kanoniczna z uwzględnieniem wybranych elementów psychologicznych

Abstract

The legislator has placed the term ‘helpless persons’ in canon law. It was placed in the legal system of the Catholic Church only in 2019. The legislator has set out its legal definition. The term indicates persons who have been given protection from the crime of sexual abuse. The research has a dual purpose. The primary objective is to present people in the Church community to whom the term ‘helpless persons“ refers. The secondary objective is to show, on the basis of an analysis of canon law, the extent of protection of ‘helpless persons’ against the crime of sexual abuse. Appropriate research methods were used to conduct the study. These include the dogmatic-legal method, the historical method, the philological method, the comparative method and the analytical methods used in psychological and criminological sciences. The narrative created in the article showed that the category of ‘vulnerable persons’ includes a variety of people including children, adolescents, people with disabilities, the elderly, women and men addicted to alcohol or psychoactive drugs, residents of nursing homes and sanatoriums, and people who are unable to resist the aggression of the perpetrator. The current provisions of canon law comprehensively protect the above persons from the crime of sexual abuse. Therefore, the legislator, together with the bodies subordinate to it, should constantly observe the phenomenon of sexual exploitation and adapt the laws so that they continue to ensure the freedom, safety and protection of helpless people and punish perpetrators with appropriate criminal sanctions.