Child abuse: Commission to study issue of bishop accountability

By Iacopo Scaramuzzi
Vatican Insider
February 7, 2015

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/pedofilia-paedophilia-pedofilia-39027/

The Vatican Commission for Child Protection created by Pope Francis is holding its first meeting in the Vatican, with all members present. The Commission expressed its deep concern about the accountability of bishops, about whether they will admit responsibility before faithful, whether they will react with negligence in the face of paedophilia charges made against a priest in their diocese. The Commission’s members expressed this concern at a briefing in the Vatican, announcing that they are “working on policy recommendations for the Holy Father’s approval.” The two members of the Commission that were sexually abused by priests as children have stated that if things do not change over the next couple of years they will hand in their resignation.

The Child Protection Commission is “very, very concerned” about accountability of bishops and working on policy recommendations for the Holy Father’s approval, said the Commission’s president, the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, one of the Pope’s nine cardinal advisors.  The body has and will continue discussing procedures that can be introduced in cases where a bishop does not take accusations relating to the sexual abuse of children by a priest seriously: "There needs to be procedures that will allow these cases to be dealt with in an expeditious way, rather than just having things open-ended," the cardinal said, “all members of the Commission are well aware of this”. Sister Kayula Gertrude Lesa from Zambia and Peter Saunders from England also gave statements during the briefing. Saunders, who was abused by a paedophile priest as a child, was received by the Pope last summer, but almost all members of the Commission were present in the newsroom. "If in a year or two there isn't some firm action on those matters, then I don't think I'll be sitting here talking to you," Saunders said. "I think it's not disputed that there have been far too many cover ups, there have been far too many clergy protected, moved from place to place," Saunders added, stressing the need for Church leaders to report those who are guilty to civil justice.

The other member of the Commission who was abused by a paedophile priest during her childhood, was Marie Collins from Ireland. At the end of the briefing she told journalists that “if the situation does nto change in one or two years both Peter and myself will leave the Commission”. It is about introducing accountability for bishops once and for all, with punishments when they act in a negligent way in the face of accusations being made against a priest. The Irish woman – who had already spoken at a meeting against child abuse held at the Pontifical Gregorian University when Benedict XVI was still Pope – confessed she was a bit frustrated by how slow the Church had been in dealing with this issue: “As a victim I would like to see things move faster, we have been talking about these issues for years… I am nevertheless confident that we will make quicker progress from now on. Otherwise I don’t think you’ll see me in this Commission again,” she added.  Journalists asked the two victims to remark on a comment the Pope made recently about smacking children (“One time, I heard a father in a meeting with married couples say ‘I sometimes have to smack my children a bit, but never in the face so as to not humiliate them’”): “I would never do that and I am against the use of physical violence in education,” Saunders said, almost amused. “But his comment makes him more human , if he was a father he would not act that way,” he added.

Cardinal O’Malley drew attention to the letter the Pope recently wrote – signed deliberately on the day of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple on 2 February – asking Bishops’ Conferences and religious leaders all over the world to work with the Vatican Commission and added that each conference will be asked to name a contact person to work with the Commission for Child Protection. Regarding the guidelines which the Holy See asked all Bishops’ Conferences to send back in 2011, Cardinal O’Malley said 96% of Bishops’ Conferences responded. Some, he continued, have not replied, others have sent loose norms and the Commission is working with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to see which countries need help – including economic help – the most. The Bishops’ Conferences that did not send guidelines, are developing Churches which may lack the adequate resources for the task. So far the Vatican has covered the costs. The Holy See is implementing a zero tolerance policy towards paedophile clerics. One of the initiatives the Commission is working on is a day of prayer for victims of abuse.

The Archbishop of Boston welcomed the Pope’s invitation to meet victims of paedophile priests, recalling that he has met hundreds of victims in his own diocese over the years. “Such meetings are valuable opportunities for listening to those who have greatly suffered and for asking their forgiveness.” Saunders said that too many have turned their backs on such meetings. He said abuse that took place decades ago stays with you for the rest of your life, these are not “old” crimes we are talking about.

The Commission - which did not meet the Pope on this occasion but is expected to meet him at the plenary assembly scheduled for next October in the Vatican – has decided to create a number of sub-commissions that will be working on individual issues (such as accountability, guidelines for national Bishops’ Conferences, prevention) in the run up to the next meeting.

In answer to a journalist’s question on the case involving the former Polish Nuncio to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, whom the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found guilty of child abuse and indicted by the Vatican Tribunal, the Vatican spokesman, simply responded that the investigations “have not come to a standstill at all”. The Dominican Attorney General came here; he was very glad about the meeting, he got some material. The Vatican promoter of Justice interrogated Wesolowski and is examining the material in greater depth.”