Commenting on the practices of the CDF:
‘The proceedings of the CDF were frequently criticised, not least by the subjects of its investigation, for having failed to observe the norms of natural justice. These require that hearings must be fair and impartial, that an accused must be heard, that an accuser should not also be a judge, there should be a right of appeal to a higher tribunal, and justice must not only be done but seen to be done. Otherwise such proceedings are unjust and, in the Pope’s own word, immoral.’
