"Pope Francis strengthens Catholic Church's stance on sexual abuse"

Pope Francis has permanently decreed an updated version of Vos estis lux mundi, his landmark legislation to counter sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The decree extends the Church’s norms for handling abuse to cover lay leaders of international associations of the faithful recognized by the Vatican. The new norms will go into force on April 30 and replace the pope’s previous provisional version of Vos estis lux mundi published nearly four years ago. The norms regard what are called, in canon law, “delicts against the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue,” consisting of sexual acts with a minor or vulnerable person; forcing someone to perform or submit to sexual acts through violence, threat, or abuse of authority; and the production or possession of child pornography.