By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-10-29 21:36:25 | Updated at 2024-10-30 03:20:25
5 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors presented its inaugural Annual Report on Church Policies and Procedures for Safeguarding at a Vatican press conference October 29.
The report, launched by request of Pope Francis, marks a significant development in the Catholic Church’s efforts toward accountability and transparency in safeguarding minors and vulnerable adults from sexual abuse.
Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, commission president, led the presentation alongside Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, annual report chairperson, Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, secretary, and Teresa Kettelkamp, the adjunct secretary. O’Malley emphasized the report’s dedication to “transparency and accountability,” saying it aimed to stand “in solidarity with victims and survivors throughout the world.”
The Pope’s call for the report, first requested in April 2022, stemmed from the desire for a “reliable account” on current Church efforts and future needs in safeguarding minors. Pope Francis framed this annual report as a tool for Church leaders, urging them to reflect on both progress and areas for improvement. “This will be a factor of transparency and accountability,” he stated, noting his hope for it to act as “a clear audit of our progress in this effort.”
The commission, comprising members with expertise in law, psychology, education, and human rights, took on the monumental task of gathering global data to create the report. De Boer-Buquicchio, who has experience with human rights issues as the former deputy secretary general of the Council of Europe and the UN’s special rapporteur on sexual exploitation of children, underscored the value of data in the Church’s safeguarding mission.
“The Annual Report is a tool to promote this process of pastoral conversion,” she said, advocating for a cultural shift within the Church toward accountability.
Explaining the judicial principles adopted by the Commission, De Boer-Buquicchio said the report’s “conceptual framework is comparable to what in international law is referred to as Transitional Justice,” which she said was “inspired by human rights law and is deeply consistent with Catholic teaching.”
She continued, “Precisely because of its consistency with Catholic teaching we believe the term Conversional Justice is most applicable to the Church’s context while still exploring the 4 interconnected core principles of: (1) truth, (2) justice, (3) reparations, and (4) the guarantee of non-recurrence, in other words institutional reform.”
De Boer-Buquicchio expressed her hope that the adoption of these principles in practice would “ensure a transition, that is, the Church’s conversion away from times of widespread sexual abuse that is frequently mishandled and covered up — to a new period when policies for safeguarding, reporting, investigations, and care for victims/survivors make abuses rare, and provide appropriate responses.”
Professor Benyam Dawit Mezmur, another member of the commission, highlighted the report’s role in addressing gaps identified by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which previously reviewed the Holy See in 2013. Mezmur noted that the 2013 report exposed the need for “a solid information base” and for effective practices at the local level to prevent and address abuse. According to Mezmur, the pilot report represents “an important first step” toward this goal, laying the groundwork for “interventions that can be replicated at different parts of the world.”
The report was organized into four main sections, each detailing different aspects of the Church’s safeguarding measures. The first section focused on the local Church, examining the policies and practices in 17 dioceses during bishops’ ad limina visits. The second section explored safeguarding efforts at a continental level, and the third assessed the Vatican’s Dicasteries’ policies and their support for the local Church. The fourth section examined safeguarding efforts within the broader society, using Caritas Internationalis as a case study for how Catholic organizations operate on the global stage.
