Vatican presents first abuse report – Failure of the Church

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Children has presented its first anti-abuse report. At the presentation to journalists in the Vatican on Tuesday, the commission's chairman Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley addressed those affected directly: "Your suffering and your injuries have opened our eyes to the fact that we as a church have failed to care for the victims, and that we have not defended you and refused to understand you when you needed us most," said the long-serving Boston archbishop in emotional words. "Nothing we do will ever be enough to fully heal what has happened." He expressed hope that the report would strengthen the pledge "that such events will never happen again in the Church."

No connection with celibacy

O'Malley went on to say that he knew of no serious scientific study that proved a connection between the celibacy of priests and sexualised violence against children. Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, the long-standing UN rapporteur on the sexual exploitation of children, also agreed. Sex with children is a crime and anyone who does this has a mental illness that needs to be treated, the Dutch lawyer explained.

O'Malley, who had spoken at the request of a German journalist, explained that he had noticed that such a debate was making waves in Germany; however, it was known in other countries that celibacy was not a cause of paedophilia. This does not change the fact that the scandal has severely damaged the credibility of the Church and that it must reform itself in order to continue to fulfil its mission, said the Cardinal, who took over the Archdiocese of Boston in 2003 in the midst of the abuse crisis and took some radical measures for prevention, education and compensation.

Thanks to the Pope for "fighting this plague"

Juan Carlos Cruz, a spokesperson for victims of abuse from Chile, thanked Pope Francis for his "fight against this plague". Without him, he would not be able to stand up for other survivors today. Truth, justice and reparation had long been taboo in the Church, but this had finally changed, said Cruz, who is known as a victim of the Chilean priest and perpetrator of abuse Fernando Karadima (1930-2021). He praised the commission's report as an important step.

Pope Francis had requested the 50-page report, which primarily provides information on church protection measures and procedures in numerous countries, in 2022. According to the commission, it was unable to provide a comprehensive overview of the number of cases of abuse or the status of canonical proceedings worldwide. Reliable data was still lacking from many countries. Instead, the report contains suggestions for improvements in the Vatican authorities that deal with cases of abuse, as well as in the individual regions of the global Church.

The commission, founded in 2014, is to propose measures to the Pope to protect minors and vulnerable adults against sexualised violence and all other forms of abuse. At the same time, it is to provide those responsible in the local churches, religious communities and Caritas with advice on how to better deal with cases of abuse and how to prevent them. (KNA)