CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - The South African Roman Catholic Church acknowledged on Thursday a few of its priests had been accused of sexually abusing children and published part of a protocol to deal with such charges in the future.
``While the vast majority of priests live dedicated celibate lives, the Church in Southern Africa admits that a few of its clergy have been accused of sexually abusing children,'' Cardinal Wilfred Napier, who heads the Church in Southern Africa, said.
He said in a statement the Church had drafted a document warning priests ``abuse in all its forms, and especially abuse of power and sexual abuse, must be condemned and every step must be taken to prevent further occurrences.''
But the statement did not make clear whether priests would be dismissed or whether police would be brought in where allegations appeared to be true. Church officials were not immediately available to expand on the statement.
Napier's statement followed a meeting of U.S. cardinals in Rome on Wednesday to address a rising tide of accusations the church is soft on paedophile priests.
The U.S. Roman Catholic Church has been shaken by charges that senior clergy sheltered paedophile priests, moving known abusers from parish to parish.
Catholicism is the third largest religion in South Africa with an estimated 3.7 million members in a population of 44 million.
The Zion Christian Church, an indigenous black church, and the Calvinist Dutch Reformed Church are slightly larger, but none claims the support of more than 10 percent of the population.
Napier said the new protocol outlined how to deal with allegations of sexual abuse by priests. Each diocese or church district was instructed to nominate a contact person to receive complaints and respond to them within 24 hours.
The document set out a process of interviews and assessment and said if a complaint appeared well founded, the accused priest could be sent on administrative leave until it was resolved.
``If the allegations are found to be true, the bishop or religious superior decides what action to take in regard to the victim and the abuser,'' the protocol says.