Pope Francis renewed a commission on clergy sexual abuse on Saturday, confirming an American cardinal as its head in a new push by the Vatican.
Pope Francis renewed a commission on clergy sexual abuse on Saturday, confirming an American cardinal as its head, as the Vatican promised to give victims a greater say in its work.
The renewal of the commission and the confirmation of Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston as its head comes as the pope is dealing with an abuse scandal in Chile that has created one of the greatest image crises of his papacy, which marks its fifth anniversary next month.
The first, three-year mandate of the commission ended in December, and its future had been uncertain.
Its first term was marred by two high-profile resignations, that of Marie Collins of Ireland and Peter Saunders of Britain. Both were victims of clergy sexual abuse when they were young, and both stepped down in what they said was frustration over lack of change and insufficient cooperation by Vatican officials.
The Vatican said in a statement that some of the members were victims of sexual abuse, but that it was up to them to disclose their history outside the group. Nine of the 16 members are new to the commission.
It said plans were at an advanced stage to create the International Survivor Advisory Panel, a group of victims of sexual abuse intended to offer consultation on “abuse prevention from the survivor’s perspective.”
The mandate of the commission, which includes lay academics and psychologists, priests and nuns, is to promote best practice initiatives and educational programs to protect minors and vulnerable adults in local Catholic institutions around the world.
Its experts come from the United States, Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, Ethiopia, India, Italy, Tonga, Germany, Brazil, Poland, South Africa, the Philippines, and Zambia. Ten are non-clerics, and eight are women, including three nuns.
Francis has been under fire for remarks he made last month while visiting Chile .
He initially said accusations against a Chilean bishop, Juan Barros Madrid, were “slander” and told reporters the Vatican had received no concrete evidence against him.
“The day someone brings me proof against Bishop Barros, then I will talk,” Francis said . “But there is not one single piece of evidence. It is all slander.”
The initial comments caused outrage among many in the Catholic community in the South American nation.
But days later, Pope Francis appointed the church’s most experienced sexual abuse investigator to look into the accusations that Bishop Barros had covered up crimes against minors.
The investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, starts his work in New York on Saturday, when he is set to meet Juan Carlos Cruz, who says he was sexually abused when he was a teenager in Chile by a priest named Fernando Karadima.
Father Karadima was found guilty in a Vatican investigation in 2011 of abusing teenage boys over many years. Father Karadima denies the allegations, and Bishop Barros denied accusations that he witnessed Father Karadima carrying out the abuse.
