Catholic News 2

(Vatican Radio) Dutch prosecutors say they are still waiting for Russia to provide information on the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine, which killed nearly 300 people, though officials still believe that the results of an international criminal inquiry will be presented later this year.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report:

In a statement, the Netherlands Public Prosecutor's Office says that the Dutch-led international joint investigation team is still waiting for information from Russia about Buk missile installations.

The Dutch Safety Board concluded last year that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine by a Russian-made surface-to-air Buk missile. All 298 people on  board died.

Moscow has strongly denied supporting the pro-Russian separatists with weapons and troops. Despite the setback, Dutch prosecutors still expect results of the criminal investigation to be presented after the summer.

CRIMINAL FILE

Yet, the Netherlands Public Prosecutor's Office says the results will not published in a report, but will eventually be included "in a criminal file, which is intended for the hearing of the case in a court or a tribunal."

Besides Dutch prosecutors, investigators are also coming from Australia, Malaysia, Belgium, and Ukraine. Their governments have pledged to bring those responsible for the crash to justice.

However some families of the victims are already suing Russia and its President Vladimir Putin in the European Court of Human Rights. Their claim is based on the violation of a passenger's right to life. They are seeking $10 million Australian dollars, just over 7 million us dollars for each victim, and the lawsuit names both the Russian state and its president as respondents.

Complicating the investigation has been ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe or OSCE has been trying to monitor a fragile ceasefire, but its unarmed monitors were often harassed or even shot at.

"DIPLOMATIC BREAKTHROUGH"

Yet, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Friday that the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine — known as the “Normandy Quartet” — have agreed on deploying an OSCE police mission to Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbass.  

Poroshenko said "a big diplomatic breakthrough" was made. "A common agreement on the OSCE police mission deployment was made not only at the highest level of the ‘Normandy Quartet’, but also in Vienna, at the OSCE, under the German chairmanship.”

He added: "Our German partners have already launched a discussion on deployment of the police mission.”

And, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed Saturday that Russia is ready to agree to allow additional international observers in warring eastern Ukraine to be armed with pistols.

He told Russian television that OSCE monitors along the conflict line and at weapons storage sites should “have the right to carry personal guns … pistols for self-defense.”

 

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Vatican City, Jun 4, 2016 / 06:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday, Pope Francis issued an edict on the protection of minors and vulnerable adults, in which he said that negligence on the part of a bishop can constitute removal from office.

Entitled “Like a loving mother,” the edict -- officially called a motu proprio – contributes to existing norms in place with regard to abuse cases. It particularly pertains to bishops, eparchs, or religious superiors who are deemed guilty of negligence in such cases.

In a statement, Holy See press office director, Fr. Federico Lombardi, drew attention to two points in the motu proprio. The first is that a bishop can be guilty of lacking in diligence even in the absence of “grave moral culpability on his part.”

The second point is, in cases pertaining to the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults, “it is sufficient for the lack of diligence be grave” for a bishop to be removed from office. In other cases, a “very grave” lack of diligence is necessary for a bishop's removal.

Canon law already makes provisions for the removal of bishops “for grave reasons,” as is noted in the motu proprio.

The document states that diocesan bishops and eparchs, whether permanent or temporary, can be subject to removal on account of negligence -- either through "committed or omitted acts" -- if such failure resulted in “physical, moral, spiritual, or patrimonial” harm to an individual or a community as a whole.

Investigations into the conduct of bishops will be carried out by four “competent Congregations,” Fr. Lombardi's statement reads.

Fr. Lombardi said the congregations charged with investigations are: the Congregation for Bishops, the Congregation for The Evangelisation of Peoples, the Congregation for Oriental Churches, and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

If, after investigations, this team of congregations determine it is necessary to remove the bishop, they will decide whether to remove him immediately, or give him fifteen days to resign. If the bishop does not resign in the allotted period, the congregations can decree his removal from office.

The decision made by the congregation must be submitted for approval by the Pope, “who will be assisted by a special college of lawyers, duly assigned.”

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will not be involved in these cases because they pertain to negligence, not abuse, Fr. Lombardi said in the statement.

“Like a loving mother,” Pope Francis writes, in reference to the title of the motu proprio, “the Church loves all her children, but cares for and protects the smallest and most defenseless with a very particular affection: it is a task which Christ himself entrusted to the entire Christian community as a whole.”

For this reason, the Pope writes, the Church pays “vigilant attention to the protection of children and vulnerable adults.”

While it is the responsibility of the entire Church to protect minors and vulnerable adults, bishops, eparchs, and those with responsibilities in a particular Church, must be extra diligent, Francis writes.

“With the present letter, I intend to clarify that, among the said 'grave reasons,' is included negligence of bishops in exercising their office, in particular as regards cases of sexual abuse committed against minors and vulnerable adults, envisaged by the [motu proprio] Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, promulgated by St. John Paul II, and amended by my beloved predecessor, Benedict XVI.

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