CANADA
The Catholic Register
Editorial
Pope Francis has been commended frequently as a forceful advocate for reform regarding the Church’s response to clerical sex abuse. But the resignation of a female member of the commission he established to steer those reforms has cast a shadow over his good intentions.
Marie Collins, a victim of sexual abuse as an Irish teenager, quit the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors after becoming fed up with the Vatican curia. As she put it, the refusal in some parts of the curia to cooperate with the Pope’s commission or implement its recommendations “when the purpose is to improve the safety of children and vulnerable adults around the world is unacceptable.”
Her biting resignation letter claimed the commission has been thwarted for three years by inadequate support and resources, and by the curia’s aversion to recommendations or to cooperation with the commission. She cited a “cultural resistance” even to proposals approved by the Pope.
One example, she said, was the establishment of a tribunal to address bishops who are negligent on matters of sexual abuse in their dioceses. The tribunal process was approved by the Pope in June 2015, but never implemented by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
Collins also questioned a Vatican refusal to disseminate guidelines the commission developed for bishops to consult when drafting local sexual abuse policies. In this case, she detected a general reluctance to incorporate any of the commission’s suggestions into the Vatican’s existing templates.
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