SUMMARY

1. The CEI legislation on the prevention and repression of ecclesiastical pedophilia: the central role of the diocesan bishop - 2. Decision-making autonomy of the diocesan bishop and the laity's participation in the exercise of the punitive power - 3. Non-imputability of the committed sexual crimes to the Ordinary by the members of the presbytery - 4. Cooperation with the political community and protection of confidentiality: the secret archive and the procedures for conserving the documentation concerning the punishment of crimes contra mores - 5. (Continued) The exercise of the potestas iudicandi; the protection of the faithful/cleric relationship - 6. Ruling n. 22827/2004 of the Italian Court of Cassation: extraneousness of the judicial function to the ministerial priesthood - 7. Critical considerations: non-existence of the duty to deliver a copy of the procedural documentation - 8. The repression of pedophilia as an expression of the sovereignty and independence of the ecclesial community - 9. The punitive power as a component of the munus regendi: the faculty of the cleric to abstain from testifying before the Italian judge; possible use by the laity - 10. Bilateral legislation and the extension of the notion of minister of religion.