Vatican’s highest appeals court criticizes publishing lists of ‘credibly accused’ clerics

The Catholic Church’s highest appeals court has strongly condemned the practice of publishing online lists of priests “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of minors in a judicial decision published in a law journal last month.

The June 2025 decision — on an action for defamation — was made available in English in October through the canon law journal of St. Paul University in Ottawa and first reported by Catholic World Report.

It has become increasingly common for Catholic dioceses and religious orders, especially in the United States, to publish lists of clerics accused of the abuse of minors, apart from judicial processes to determine guilt. In some cases, the names of deceased clerics have also been included.

The Tribunal of the Roman Rota criticized this practice in a June 26, 2025, decision on a defamation suit.

We “cannot believe … that there is nothing illegitimate in a powerful institution announcing to the whole world that a determined private person has committed a grave delict of which that person has never been convicted nor even accused in a trial,” the Roman Rota wrote.

“For if such an act were not illegitimate,” the court continued, “the good name of all…