Madam, – The accusation that the Catholic Church has equated child abuse with the ordination of women seems to have been universally accepted and propagated, most recently in the article by Mary Condren (Opinion, July 28th).
The Vatican last revised its code of canon law in 1983. Since that time, the Vatican has issued various ad hoc documents amending the code.
These documents cover topics as disparate as the distribution of tape recordings of confessions to the media and consecrating a host without the chalice.
The ordination of women and the handling of allegations of child abuse were also covered by separate stand-alone documents.
The Vatican, for reasons of good housekeeping, decided to consolidate the various amendments made to canon law over the past 30-odd years into one document, Normae de Gravioribus Delictis. Some small amendments were made to the existing law but, for the most part, the document simply consolidates developments in canon law in a sensible fashion.
Even a cursory reading of the document reveals that it places a marked difference in emphasis between the different offences it chronicles. It is simply untrue to say that the document equates child abuse with the ordination of women.
The reporting of such a damning accusation as fact suggests that any accusation made against the Church, however implausible, will be believed.
Surely the crimes of the hierarchy are sufficient to condemn it without inventing some more? Yours, etc,