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Since so many on here were so quick to jump the gun on the meaning of the 1962 Vatican document, here is what is really states.

Reports distort meaning of 1962 Vatican document
by: Robert P. Lockwood

In one of the strangest stories of the year, an English translation of a 1962 Vatican document written during the papacy of Pope John XXIII and before the Second Vatican Council grabbed headlines last week.

It was reported on CBS news and elsewhere that the 40-year-old document allegedly provided proof of a Vatican-mandated “coverup” of criminal accusations of sexual abuse by clergy.

Investigation showed, however, that the news reports distorted completely the meaning of the 40-year-old document, its roots in church law and its intent in dealing primarily with attempts at sexual solicitation through the sacrament of confession.

Rather than a coverup, the March 1962 document restated norms to deter any sexual misconduct related to the sacrament of confession, including dismissal from the clerical state.

The document was not intended to address civil or criminal behavior on the part of the clergy, but related specifically to violations of church law.

“To see this as a blueprint for any form of behavior is simply to misunderstand history and to misunderstand the document,” according to a response released by the Department for Communications of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The decades-old document titled “Crimen Sollicitationes” (“the crime of solicitation”) was portrayed, particularly in reports from CBS news, as a “smoking gun” that established a “ground plan” for the church universal for covering up crimes of sexual abuse of minors by clerics.

That charge