VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is using new rules to crack down on sex abuse by leading churchmen, revealing that it has ordered a Belgian bishop to no longer work as a priest while officials determine his punishment.
Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, 74, admitted abusing his nephew and resigned a year ago, just as the sex-abuse scandal was spreading across Europe and the Vatican was revising the way it handled prosecutions of bishops and other top officials.
Over the weekend, Belgian bishops reported that Vangheluwe had been sent outside the country for spiritual and psychological counseling.
In a statement to The Associated Press on Tuesday, the Vatican clarified that Vangheluwe is being sanctioned, including not being allowed to work as a priest or bishop.
Pope Benedict XVI will eventually decide his fate. Benedict will base a punishment on the diagnosis and prognosis of Vangheluwe’s treatment and on “the suffering of the victims and the need for justice,” the Vatican said.
Vangheluwe is still technically a priest, though he is not allowed to celebrate Mass publicly. Among the possible punishments that Benedict can issue is to remove him from the priesthood altogether.
The move against him comes at a time when high- ranking church officials elsewhere are facing increased scrutiny from prosecutors, including a monsignor in Philadelphia and a bishop in Ottawa, on sex-related charges. Both could land in prison.
