This is bishops correcting bishops. But that hasn’t gone so well, right?
Cardinal Cupich issued a statement explaining that the new law will allow the U.S. bishops to move forward with procedures to hold bishops accountable for failing to handle abuse cases properly.
See what I mean? It’s as if they had not been allowed previously, which legally in church law is apparently true. But they went along with the problem for many years without a peep.
Anyhow, this is bishops calling other bishops out. The policing bishops with be metropolitans, such as Cupich for Illinois, by the way.
And keep in mind, this new plan is what Cupich announced at the Baltimore meeting in November, when a more ambitious conference plan which would have given at least investigative authority to lay people was squelched at the last minute by a Vatican committee. (See also here.)
He sells the new approach now as heralding a new day, which is far from obvious.
Blithe Spirit 