The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith sent the investigation results and instructions for disciplinary proceedings back in April, yet the Croatian Bishops' Conference has not made a decision after more than three months.
The Vatican has concluded its investigation into the case of sexual abuse of a minor seminarian from the Interdiocesan Seminary on Šalata in Zagreb and has established the guilt of the accused priest. Despite clear instructions from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to issue a disciplinary decision through an administrative process within a short timeframe, the Croatian Bishops' Conference (HBK) has been delaying action for over three months.
According to unofficial information from Dnevnik.hr, which first reported on this case, the Vatican's Dicastery conducted an investigation from 2024 to 2025. The results of the investigation, along with extensive documentation and instructions for further action, were sent to the HBK in April of this year.
This case has its roots in the early 2000s, when the sexual abuse of a then-minor student at the Interdiocesan Seminary on Šalata began. The abuse continued during his studies at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Đakovo. The victim named a high-ranking priest in the Diocese of Požega as the perpetrator.
The case was reported for years, including by the then-Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, to whom the victim confided and recounted the details of the abuse. Despite this, church proceedings were only initiated much later.
In its instructions, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith clearly indicated that the evidence gathered during the investigation points to the unequivocal guilt of the accused priest and that a decision should be made through an administrative process. In church procedure, the administrative process is used when the evidence is clear and irrefutable and is carried out in a shorter timeframe, unlike a judicial process, which is applied when the facts are disputed.
The President of the HBK and Archbishop of Zagreb, Dražen Kutleša, entrusted this case to Rev. Marin Batur, head of the HBK's National Office for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults and a judge of the First Instance Archdiocesan Court in Zadar. Batur is considered one of Croatia's leading experts in canon law. However, more than three months after the HBK received the Dicastery's instructions, no decision has been made. Dnevnik.hr reports that they sent an inquiry to the HBK but received no response.
The new information also raises the question of why the accused priest was not suspended back in 2024, when the Vatican began its investigation and the HBK was aware of it. A suspension would have served, among other things, to remove the accused from potential contact with other victims, but this step was not taken.
The entire case casts a shadow over the work of church authorities in Croatia, especially in light of the Vatican's clear stance on the established guilt and the urgency of action, while a final decision is still pending.
