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Pope Francis looks down as he leads holy mass at Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on September 8, 2024. Tiziana Fabi, AFP/File

Pope Francis looks down as he leads holy mass at Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on September 8, 2024. - Pope Francis is leading holy mass at the Sir Guise Stadium during his four day visit to Papua New Guinea from September 6-9. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP)

Article (news)

Pope Francis

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1730189985560AFP__20240907__36FT6B8__v3__Preview__TopshotPngVaticanPopeReligion.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Pope Francis looks down as he leads holy mass at Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on September 8, 2024. Tiziana Fabi, AFP/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Pope Francis looks down as he leads holy mass at Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on September 8, 2024. Tiz<em>iana Fabi, AFP/File</em></span></span></span>VATICAN CITY, Holy See -- The Vatican on Tuesday publishes its first annual report on protecting minors in the Catholic Church, a move requested by Pope Francis amid pressure for more action to tackle clerical child sex abuse.</div><p>The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said its report will be a &quot;first step towards a process of data gathering and reporting&quot;, and will document &quot;where risks remain, and where advances can be found&quot;.</p><p>Pope Francis set up the independent panel of experts in December 2014 amid an avalanche of revelations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy across the world, and its cover-up.</p><p>But the commission has faced strong criticism over its organization, funding and role, with several high-profile members quitting.</p><p>In 2022, Francis incorporated the commission into the Roman Curia -- the government of the Holy See -- and asked for an annual, &quot;reliable account on what is presently being done and what needs to change&quot;.</p><p>The first of these will be published on Tuesday, launched at the Vatican by the commission&#x27;s president, US Cardinal Sean O&#x27;Malley, the former archbishop of Boston who has spent decades listening to abuse survivors.</p><p>In a statement ahead of the launch, the commission described the report as a &quot;new tool&quot;, part of a process to set out clear standards on protecting children and vulnerable adults.</p><p>It will be divided into four areas -- a review of safeguarding policies in 15 to 20 local churches each year, trends across continents, policies within the Vatican and the Church&#x27;s broader role in society.</p><p>&quot;It collects resources and practices to be shared across the Universal Church, and makes specific recommendations to promote further progress in safeguarding,&quot; it said.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/10/27/catholic-church-assembly-acknowledges-obstacles-for-women-119">READ: Catholic Church assembly acknowledges &#x27;obstacles&#x27; for women</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/10/2/pope-opens-new-debates-on-catholic-churchs-future-011">READ: Pope opens new debates on Catholic Church&#x27;s future</a></div><div><strong>- Embracing transparency -</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/15YMIJH8tT4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span>Since becoming pope in March 2013, Francis has taken numerous measures to tackle abuse, from opening up internal Church documents to punishing high-ranking clergy, while making it compulsory to report suspicions of sexual assault to Church authorities.</div><p>But clergy are still not required to report abuse to civil authorities, unless the laws of that country require it, while any revelations made in confession remain private.</p><p>&quot;The global church must implement true zero tolerance on sexual violence by clergy,&quot; Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the US group Bishop Accountability, which documents abuse in the Church, told AFP earlier this year.</p><p>She called for the Church to name convicted priests and insisted that &quot;any priest found to have abused a child or vulnerable adult or credibly accused of abusing a child or adult must be permanently removed from public ministry&quot;.</p><p>For all his efforts so far, she said &quot;Pope Francis has shown an absolute aversion to transparency&quot;.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/9/9/-this-job-is-not-easy-pope-1020">READ: &#x27;This job is not easy&#x27; -- Pope</a></div><p>Maud de Boer Buquicchio, a Dutch lawyer and former UN special rapporteur on the sexual exploitation of children who chaired the abuse commission report, said last week it would help promote a &quot;change of mindset in the Church that embraces accountability and transparency&quot;.</p><p>During its compilation, &quot;we have been able to explore many of the concerns about the lack of available data&quot;, she added.</p><p>Members of the abuse commission are directly appointed by the pope and are experts in fields related to safeguarding, from clinical psychology to law as well as human rights.</p><p>But two members representing abuse survivors resigned in 2017, while last year, influential German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner also quit, complaining about &quot;structural and practical issues&quot;.</p><p>Francesco Zanardi, founder of Italian survivors group Rete L&#x27;Abuso (The Abuse Network), told AFP in 2023 that the commission was &quot;absolutely useless&quot;.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div></div>

<p>The Vatican on Tuesday publishes its first annual report on protecting minors in the Catholic Church, a move requested by Pope Francis amid pressure for more action to tackle clerical child sex abuse.</p>

The Vatican on Tuesday publishes its first annual report on protecting minors in the Catholic Church, a move requested by Pope Francis amid pressure for more action to tackle clerical child sex abuse.

Pope's commission against abuse to publish first report

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Pope's commission against abuse to publish first report

Agence France-Presse

Published Oct 29, 2024 04:21 PM PHT

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