If the Church really wants to come clean and prove that it wants to reform the way it deals with cases of sexual abuse of children by priests, it should take the initiative and start reporting such cases to the civil authorities.

The civil authorities should also update the law and perhaps take inspiration from the law on money laundering. Surely the protection of innocent children merits at least as much attention as money-laundering offences. Competent financial persons (such as, bankers, accountants, auditors, art dealers etc.) are obliged by Maltese law to report to the civil authorities even suspected cases of money laundering.

A similar obligation does not seem to exist in cases of credible accusations of sexual abuse of children insofar as the Church is concerned. Teachers are bound to refer such cases immediately to the Directorate of Student Services and Aġenzija Appoġġ but not the Church authorities.

The Church seems intent on making the most of this anomaly in Maltese law. Apparently, it does not feel morally obliged to report this “filth”, as described by Pope Benedict himself.

If the law is indeed an ass, it must be amended as soon as possible to correct this anomaly so that all cases of sexual abuse of children (proved or suspected) should be reported to the police and all related evidence filed with the report. Surely everybody’s first priority should be to protect the most vulnerable members of society, that is children.