George Weigel's ideas on new standards for selecting American Catholic bishops:




"[T]he nuncio must explicitly ask the priest whether there is any sexual or other impropriety in his background..."


Free - wheeling adaptation of this source: George Weigel's The Courage to be Catholic.

Page 207:

"In light of the current crisis, certain other questions must be put to any potential candidate for bishop, and certain people must as a rule be consulted.

"Those asked to comment on a potential nominee must be explicitly asked whether they are aware of any incident in the candidate's life, involving sexual misconduct or any other impropriety, that would disqualify him for the office of bishop or cause scandal for the Church.

"Those consulted must include priests who have lived with the potential candidate in a parish or seminary assignment, and at least one active priest, himself of unimpeachable integrity, who was a seminary classmate of the potential candidate.

"When the [papal] nuncio informs a priest that the Holy Father wishes to nominate him as a bishop, the nuncio must explicitly ask the priest whether there is any sexual or other impropriety in his background that makes him unfit for the office; the identical question must be put to a bishop whose transfer to another diocese is being considered, and the same question must be put to other bishops and priests who know the bishop in question well.

"The reform of the selection process will also necessitate changes in the minimum age assumed appropriate for a bishop, and in assumptions about what kinds of priests are best qualified for the episcopate."