ROME
National Catholic Reporter
Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 23, 2017
In the midst of a month in which the effectiveness of Pope Francis’ measures to fight clergy sexual abuse has come into question, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley pledged Thursday that the pontiff is still “thoroughly committed to rooting out the scourge of sex abuse.”
O’Malley, the head of Francis’ Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, told participants of an education seminar hosted by the group that “there is simply no justification in our day for failures to enact concrete safeguarding standards for our children.”
“Let there be no doubts: no other topic is more important for the life of the church,” said the cardinal. “If the church is not committed to child protection, our efforts at evangelization will be to no effect; we will lose the trust of our people and gain the opprobrium of the world.”
The pontifical commission, created by Francis in 2014, was hosting an educational seminar Thursday, March 23, at the Pontifical Gregorian University, presenting different perspectives on safeguarding children, by advocates from Argentina, Australia, Colombia, Italy, Mexico and the United States.
The event comes just three weeks after one of the commission’s members, abuse survivor Marie Collins, resigned from the group March 1. In an article for NCR that day, Collins said she was resigning due to frustration with Vatican officials’ reluctance to cooperate with the commission’s work to protect children.
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