Reedícia noriem o najťažších deliktoch a delikty proti mravom a predpisy trestného zákona Slovenskej republiky

Abstract

This paper introduces the penal process in the Church addressing the gravest delicts committed against morals. This has undergone certain modifications in recent years along with the precepts of the penal law of the Slovak Republic concerning these kinds of delicts. Of great importance in this context was the Second Vatican Council, the Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1983 and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches that came into force in 1991. Responding to a series of scandals of a sexual nature surrounding clerics that were exposed towards the end of the last century, the Church adopted serious modifications to the penal law. The most significant reform was introduced during the pontificate of John Paul II who issued an apostolic letter Motu proprio Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela in 2001. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI revised the original text of the De gravioribus delictis and modified some of its sections. Pope Francis continued in the reform by issuing an apostolic letter Motu proprio Come una madre amorevole in 2016 in which he introduced the possibility of removing bishops from ecclesiastical office for negligence in relation to cases of sexual abuse. The reform initiative of the Apostolic See is primarily aimed at securing justice in the Church and safeguarding the faithful from immoral acts of the clergy. In addition, these reforms seek to maintain the high credit of the priestly vocation amongst God’s people by placing a great emphasis on the moral integrity of the ministry in line with Christ’s teaching.