The Crime of Sexual Exploitation of “Vulnerable Persons” Under the Current Provisions of Canon Law
The Crime of Sexual Exploitation of “Vulnerable Persons” Under the Current Provisions of Canon Law

Summary/Abstract: The legislator has introduced the term “vulnerable persons” to the canon law. It was implemented into the legal system of the Catholic Church only in 2019. The legislator provided a legal definition of this term. The intervening term indicates persons who have been given protection from the crime of sexual abuse. This study had two aims. Its primary objective was to describe those people in the Church community to whom the term “vulnerable person” refers. Its secondary objective was to present, on the basis of an analysis of the canon law, the extent of protection of “vulnerable persons” against the crime of sexual abuse. Appropriate research methods were used to conduct the study. These included the dogmatic-legal method, the historical method, the philological method, the comparative method, and the analytical methods used in psychological and criminological sciences. The narrative created in the article showed that the category of “vulnerable persons” includes a variety of people, such as children, adolescents, people with disabilities, the elderly, women and men addicted to alcohol or psychoactive drugs, residents of nursing homes and sanatoriums, and people who are unable to resist the aggression of the perpetrator. The current provisions of the canon law comprehensively protect the aforementioned persons against the crime of sexual abuse. Therefore, the legislator, together with the bodies subordinate to it, should constantly monitor the phenomenon of sexual exploitation and adapt the laws accordingly, so that they continue to ensure the freedom, safety, and protection of vulnerable persons and punish perpetrators with appropriate criminal sanctions

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