The article describes the issue of the relationship between the Catholic Church’s judicial system and the national law enforcement authorities and judiciary powers after 6 December 2019, when Pope Francis lifted the so-called “pontifical secrecy” concerning canon criminal cases of clerics accused of sexually abusing minors. After a brief outline of the regulations re- ferring to the institution of secrecy in the canonical legal order and arguments justifying the need to keep it, the author presents certain provisions on pontifical secrecy and the conse- quences of lifting it for the relationship between the state and the Church’s system of justice.
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