VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register
by Edward Pentin Saturday, March 22, 2014
Last December, Pope Francis said he wanted to set up a special commission for the protection of minors in the Church.
Today he instituted the new body, called the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, and appointed the following to be a part of it:
Dr. Catherine Bonnet (France)
Mrs. Marie Collins (Ireland)
Prof. the Baroness Sheila Hollins (United Kingdom)
Card. Sean Patrick O’Malley, OFM Cap (U.S.)
Prof. Claudio Papale (Italy)
Her Excellency Hanna Suchocka (Poland)
Rev. Humberto Miguel Yañez, SJ (Argentina)
Rev. Hans Zollner, SJ (Germany)
Their Vatican says their principal role will be to prepare the Statutes of the Commission, which will define its tasks and competencies. “Other members will be added to the Commission in the future, chosen from various geographical areas of the world,” it added.
The commission members come from a wide variety of backgrounds and include one victim of abuse: Marie Collins.
A victim of sexual abuse as a child in the 1960’s who brought the priest who abused her to justice in 1997, Marie has campaigned actively for the protection of children, justice for survivors of clerical sexual abuse, and for a better understanding of the effects of sexual abuse on children. She has won awards, helped found a depression support group in her native Ireland, and assisted her archdiocese to set up their Child Protection Service.
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