In the varied options available within the legal sphere concerning the alleged abuse of minors, a canonical institute has recently been introduced in a way that is not explicitly provided by the current legislation, i.e. the so-called «administrative suspension» or «non-criminal suspension»: this refers to the imposition of a general prohibition from exercising the priestly ministry without the priest being held penally responsible for anything (i.e. without a crime and without a trial). Faced with
appeals for justice addressed to the Apostolic Signatura by certain priests affected by this administrative suspension, the Supreme Tribunal has developed a  jurisprudence that takes as the fundamental criterion of administrative legitimacy the principle of «proportionality» that must be observed by the ecclesiastical
authority so that an administrative provision may be maintained within the sphere of reasonability and does not assume the forms and purposes that are specific to a penal sanction.