On 30 September 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry confirmed that Book VI of the Code of Canon Law determines the penal norms in order to give precise and sure guidance to those who must apply them. The Catholic Council for the Inquiry also confirmed that the offence of child abuse is now framed as an offence committed against the dignity of the human person. It includes clerics, non-clerical religious and lay persons who occupy certain roles in the Church.