Church must act faster against abusive priests: papal commission

VATICAN CITY: The Catholic Church must make it easier to remove priests who have abused minors, a Vatican commission said on Tuesday in its first report on protecting children.

The head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, set up by Pope Francis in 2014, said the Church was coming out of a “dark period” in which “Church leaders tragically failed those we are called to shepherd.”

US Cardinal Sean O´Malley, a former archbishop of Boston who spent decades listening to abuse survivors, told a press conference a new period had begun, “where accountability, care, and concern for victims is beginning to bring light to the darkness.”

Abuse scandals have rocked the church around the world and the decade-old commission has faced criticism itself over its role and organisation, with several top members having quit. The commission said the focus of its first 50-page report “has been on the policies, procedures, and mechanisms required by Church norms, established to keep children and vulnerable adults safe.”

It hoped in future to “address the incidence of abuse, including the question of progress in reducing and preventing abuse.” The report cautioned, however, that progress around the world varied dramatically. In some regions, clerical abuse was not yet a “publicised issue within their societies”, while calling safeguarding resources “inadequate” in parts of Central and South America, Africa and Asia.