adminPope Francis will establish a special commission to help protect children from sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, the archbishop of Boston announced on Thursday. The move is the pope’s first major initiative to address the abuse of children.
“The commission will be able to advise the Holy Father about the protection of children and pastoral care of victims of abuse,” the archbishop, Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, told reporters.
The move is the pope’s first major initiative to address the abuse of children, an issue that has threatened to undermine the credibility of the church as the Vatican faces accusations that it has not done enough either to protect children or redress the grievances of abuse sufferers.
Cases of abuse by clergy have forced the church to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation worldwide, bankrupting a string of dioceses in the United States. The precise mission and membership of the committee has not yet been decided, O’Malley said, but its role is likely to involve issuing guidelines for child protection, improving the screening of priests, examining ways to help victims and co-ordinating co-operation with the authorities in abuse cases.-Reuters.
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