Pope Francis joins the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in prayer at the Vatican on March 7, 2024. (Credit: Vatican Media)
Vatican City, Oct 29, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA).
The Vatican issued its first annual report Tuesday assessing the Catholic Church’s policies and procedures to prevent abuse in dioceses worldwide from Africa to Oceania.
The 50-page report by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is the first in an annual series that aims to provide analysis of safeguarding measures in dioceses, Catholic organizations, and religious orders globally over the next five to six years.
Released on Oct. 29, the inaugural report found that “a significant part of Central and South America, Africa, and Asia have inadequate dedicated resources” available for safeguarding efforts.
The pontifical commission also identified a “persistent concern regarding the transparency in the Roman Curia’s procedures and juridical processes,” noting that this lack of transparency is likely to “foment distrust among the faithful, especially the victim/survivor community.”
It pointed to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) in particular for its slow processing of cases and lengthy canonical proceedings, which it said can be a “source of re-traumatization for victims.”
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has been a part of the DDF since Pope Francis’ reform of the Roman Curia in 2022, yet the commission has frequently underlined its independence from the dicastery.
The commission also called for a dedicated advocate or ombudsman in the Vatican to assist victims and advocated for further study on compensation policies.
The report is not an audit of abuse incidents within the Church but rather a review of safeguarding policies and procedures. The commission indicated that future reports could evolve to include an audit function on the incidence of abuse, including measuring progress in reducing and preventing abuse.
The commission’s pilot report evaluated diocesan safeguarding practices in a dozen countries, including Mexico, Belgium, Cameroon, and Papua New Guinea, as well as two religious orders and across Caritas’ regional offices.
The commission’s findings varied across regions. While parts of Europe displayed advanced safeguarding practices, including trauma-informed support, regions such as Central and South America, Africa, and parts of Asia face significant challenges due to limited resources and inadequate training.
The commission cited critical obstacles, from cultural and financial barriers to shortages of trained personnel in areas like canon law and psychology.
In Papua New Guinea, funding constraints restrict training for safeguarding experts, and prohibitively expensive rape kits limit the ability to gather evidence for criminal investigations. A similar lack of trained experts in canon law and psychology impedes the work of Church safeguarding offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Zambia, meanwhile, faces cultural obstacles, such as a “patriarchal society” and “a culture of silence,” which prevent survivors, particularly young girls, from reporting abuse.
In Mexico, cultural barriers to reporting abuse also pose a significant hurdle to justice, according to the report.
In response to gaps in safeguarding resources, particularly in developing regions, the commission introduced the “Memorare Initiative,” inspired by a traditional prayer to the Virgin Mary. This program aims to support the establishment of centers for abuse reporting and victim services in the Global South.
Other recommendations included streamlined procedures for removing Church leaders implicated in abuse or cover-ups, as well as policies promoting fair compensation for victims.
The report also suggested that the Vatican collaborate with pontifical universities to create specialized courses of study on safeguarding for clergy and Church workers.
Looking ahead, the commission plans to review between 15 and 20 bishops’ conferences per year during ad limina visits, with the goal of examining the entire Church over five to six years.
Pope Francis requested the commission to create the report in 2022. Cardinal Seán O’Malley, who has led the commission since it was established by Francis in 2014, emphasized that the annual reports are intended as both a tool for accountability and a step toward restoring trust in the Church’s commitment to safeguarding and transparency.
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Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Oct. 5, 2016. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
CNA Staff, Mar 13, 2024 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
March 13 marks the anniversary of the election of Pope Francis as the 266th successor of St. Peter. Here is a timeline of key events during his papacy:
2013
March 13 — About two weeks after Pope Benedict XVI steps down from the papacy, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is elected pope. He takes the papal name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi and proclaims from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica: “Let us begin this journey, the bishop and people, this journey of the Church of Rome, which presides in charity over all the Churches, a journey of brotherhood in love, of mutual trust. Let us always pray for one another.”
March 14 — The day after he begins his pontificate, Pope Francis returns to his hotel to personally pay his hotel bill and collect his luggage.
July 8 — Pope Francis visits Italy’s island of Lampedusa and meets with a group of 50 migrants, most of whom are young men from Somalia and Eritrea. The island, which is about 200 miles off the coast of Tunisia, is a common entry point for migrants who flee parts of Africa and the Middle East to enter Europe. This is the pope’s first pastoral visit outside of Rome and sets the stage for making reaching out to the peripheries a significant focus.
Pope Francis gives the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 2, 2013. Elise Harris/CNA.
July 23-28 — Pope Francis visits Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to participate in World Youth Day 2013. More than 3 million people from around the world attend the event.
July 29 — On the return flight from Brazil, Pope Francis gives his first papal news conference and sparks controversy by saying “if a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” The phrase is prompted by a reporter asking the pope a question about priests who have homosexual attraction.
Nov. 24 — Pope Francis publishes his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). The document illustrates the pope’s vision for how to approach evangelization in the modern world.
2014
Feb. 22 — Pope Francis holds his first papal consistory to appoint 19 new cardinals, including ones from countries in the developing world that have never previously been represented in the College of Cardinals, such as Haiti.
March 22 — Pope Francis creates the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The commission works to protect the dignity of minors and vulnerable adults, such as the victims of sexual abuse.
Pope Francis greets pilgrims during his general audience on Nov. 29, 2014. Bohumil Petrik/CNA.
Oct. 5 — The Synod on the Family begins. The bishops discuss a variety of concerns, including single-parent homes, cohabitation, homosexual adoption of children, and interreligious marriages.
Dec. 6 — After facing some pushback for his efforts to reform the Roman Curia, Pope Francis discusses his opinion in an interview with La Nacion, an Argentine news outlet: “Resistance is now evident. And that is a good sign for me, getting the resistance out into the open, no stealthy mumbling when there is disagreement. It’s healthy to get things out into the open, it’s very healthy.”
2015
Jan. 18 — To conclude a trip to Asia, Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Manila, Philippines. Approximately 6 million to 7 million people attend the record-setting Mass, despite heavy rain.
March 23 — Pope Francis visits Naples, Italy, to show the Church’s commitment to helping the fight against corruption and organized crime in the city.
May 24 — To emphasize the Church’s mission to combat global warming and care for the environment, Pope Francis publishes the encyclical Laudato Si’, which urges people to take care of the environment and encourages political action to address climate problems.
Pope Francis at a Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 17, 2015. Bohumil Petrik.
Sept. 19-22 — Pope Francis visits Cuba and meets with Fidel Castro in the first papal visit to the country since Pope John Paul II in 1998. During his homily, Francis discusses the dignity of the human person: “Being a Christian entails promoting the dignity of our brothers and sisters, fighting for it, living for it.”
Sept. 22-27 — After departing from Cuba, Pope Francis makes his first papal visit to the United States. In Washington, D.C., he speaks to a joint session of Congress, in which he urges lawmakers to work toward promoting the common good, and canonizes the Franciscan missionary St. Junípero Serra. He also attends the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, which focuses on celebrating the gift of the family.
Pope Francis speaks to the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 24, 2015. . L’Osservatore Romano.
Oct. 4 — Pope Francis begins the second Synod on the Family to address issues within the modern family, such as single-parent homes, cohabitation, poverty, and abuse.
Oct. 18 — The pope canonizes St. Louis Martin and St. Marie-Azélie “Zelie” Guérin. The married couple were parents to five nuns, including St. Therese of Lisieux. They are the first married couple to be canonized together.
Dec. 8 — Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy begins. The year focuses on God’s mercy and forgiveness and people’s redemption from sin. The pope delegates certain priests in each diocese to be Missionaries of Mercy who have the authority to forgive sins that are usually reserved for the Holy See.
2016
March 19 — Pope Francis publishes the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which discusses a wide variety of issues facing the modern family based on discussions from the two synods on the family. The pope garners significant controversy from within the Church for comments he makes in Chapter 8 about Communion for the divorced and remarried.
April 16 — After visiting refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos, Pope Francis allows three Muslim refugee families to join him on his flight back to Rome. He says the move was not a political statement.
Pope Francis at the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, Feb. 24, 2016. Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
July 26-31 — Pope Francis visits Krakow, Poland, as part of the World Youth Day festivities. About 3 million young Catholic pilgrims from around the world attend.
Sept. 4 — The pope canonizes St. Teresa of Calcutta, who is also known as Mother Teresa. The saint, a nun from Albania, dedicated her life to missionary and charity work, primarily in India.
Sept. 30-Oct. 2 — Pope Francis visits Georgia and Azerbaijan on his 16th trip outside of Rome since the start of his papacy. His trip focuses on Catholic relations with Orthodox Christians and Muslims.
Oct. 4 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to Amatrice, Italy, to pray for the victims of an earthquake in central Italy that killed nearly 300 people.
2017
May 12-13 — In another papal trip, Francis travels to Fatima, Portugal, to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. May 13 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Marian apparition to three children in the city.
July 11 — Pope Francis adds another category of Christian life suitable for the consideration of sainthood: “offering of life.” The category is distinct from martyrdom, which only applies to someone who is killed for his or her faith. The new category applies to those who died prematurely through an offering of their life to God and neighbor.
Pope Francis greets a participant in the World Day of the Poor in Rome, Nov. 16, 2017. L’Osservatore Romano.
Nov. 19 — On the first-ever World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis eats lunch with 4,000 poor and people in need in Rome.
Nov. 27-Dec. 2 — In another trip to Asia, Pope Francis travels to Myanmar and Bangladesh. He visits landmarks and meets with government officials, Catholic clergy, and Buddhist monks. He also preaches the Gospel and promotes peace in the region.
2018
Jan. 15-21 — The pope takes another trip to Latin America, this time visiting Chile and Peru. The pontiff meets with government officials and members of the clergy while urging the faithful to remain close to the clergy and reject secularism. The Chilean visit leads to controversy over Chilean clergy sex abuse scandals.
Aug. 2 — The Vatican formally revises No. 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which concerns the death penalty. The previous text suggested the death penalty could be permissible in certain circumstances, but the revision states that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”
Aug. 25 — Archbishop Carlo Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States, publishes an 11-page letter calling for the resignation of Pope Francis and accusing him and other Vatican officials of covering up sexual abuse including allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The pope initially does not directly respond to the letter, but nine months after its publication he denies having prior knowledge about McCarrick’s conduct.
Aug. 25-26 — Pope Francis visits Dublin, Ireland, to attend the World Meeting of Families. The theme is “the Gospel of family, joy for the world.”
Pope Francis at the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Ireland. Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Oct. 3-28 — The Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment takes place. The synod focuses on best practices to teach the faith to young people and to help them discern God’s will.
2019
Jan. 22-27 — The third World Youth Day during Pope Francis’ pontificate takes place during these six days in Panama City, Panama. Young Catholics from around the world gather for the event, with approximately 3 million people in attendance.
Feb. 4 — Pope Francis signs a joint document in with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, titled the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.” The document focuses on people of different faiths uniting together to live peacefully and advance a culture of mutual respect.
Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, signed a joint declaration on human fraternity during an interreligious meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Feb. 4, 2019. Vatican Media.
Feb. 21-24 — The Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, which is labeled the Vatican Sexual Abuse Summit, takes place. The meeting focuses on sexual abuse scandals in the Church and emphasizes responsibility, accountability, and transparency.
Oct. 6-27 — The Church holds the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, which is also known as the Amazon Synod. The synod is meant to present ways in which the Church can better evangelize the Amazon region but leads to controversy when carved images of a pregnant Amazonian woman, referred to by the pope as Pachamama, are used in several events and displayed in a basilica near the Vatican.
Oct. 13 — St. John Henry Newman, an Anglican convert to Catholicism and a cardinal, is canonized by Pope Francis. Newman’s writings inspired Catholic student associations at nonreligious colleges and universities in the United States and other countries.
2020
March 15 — Pope Francis takes a walking pilgrimage in Rome to the chapel of the crucifix and prays for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The crucifix was carried through Rome during the plague of 1522.
March 27 — Pope Francis gives an extraordinary “urbi et orbi” blessing in an empty and rain-covered St. Peter’s Square, praying for the world during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pope Francis venerates the miraculous crucifix of San Marcello al Corso in St. Peter’s Square during his Urbi et Orbi blessing, March 27, 2020. Vatican Media.
2021
March 5-8 — In his first papal trip since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis becomes the first pope to visit Iraq. On his trip, he signs a joint statement with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemning extremism and promoting peace.
July 3 — Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis, is indicted in a Vatican court for embezzlement, money laundering, and other crimes. The pope gives approval for the indictment.
July 4 — Pope Francis undergoes colon surgery for diverticulitis, a common condition in older people. The Vatican releases a statement that assures the pope “reacted well” to the surgery. Francis is released from the hospital after 10 days.
July 16 — Pope Francis issues a motu proprio titled Traditionis Custodes. The document imposes heavy restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.
Dec. 2-6 — The pope travels to Cyprus and Greece. The trip includes another visit to the Greek island of Lesbos to meet with migrants.
Pope Francis greets His Beatitude Ieronymos II in Athens, Greece on Dec. 5, 2021. Vatican Media
2022
Jan. 11 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to a record store in Rome called StereoSound. The pope, who has an affinity for classical music, blesses the newly renovated store.
March 19 — The pope promulgates Praedicate Evangelium, which reforms the Roman Curia. The reforms emphasize evangelization and establish more opportunities for the laity to be in leadership positions.
May 5 — Pope Francis is seen in a wheelchair for the first time in public and begins to use one more frequently. The pope has been suffering from knee problems for months.
Pope Francis greeted the crowd in a wheelchair at the end of his general audience on Aug. 3, 2022. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
July 24-30 — In his first papal visit to Canada, Pope Francis apologizes for the harsh treatment of the indigenous Canadians, saying many Christians and members of the Catholic Church were complicit.
2023
Jan. 31-Feb. 5 — Pope Francis travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. During his visit, the pope condemns political violence in the countries and promotes peace. He also participates in an ecumenical prayer service with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Church of Scotland Iain Greenshields.
Pope Francis greets a young boy a Mass in Juba, South Sudan on Feb. 5, 2023. Vatican Media
March 29-April 1 — Pope Francis is hospitalized for a respiratory infection. During his stay at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, he visits the pediatric cancer ward and baptizes a newborn baby.
April 5 — The pope appears in the Disney documentary “The Pope: Answers,” which is in Spanish, answering six “hot-button” issues from members of Gen Z from various backgrounds. The group discusses immigration, depression, abortion, clergy sexual and psychological abuse, transgenderism, pornography, and loss of faith.
April 28-30 — Pope Francis visits Hungary to meet with government officials, civil society members, bishops, priests, seminarians, Jesuits, consecrated men and women, and pastoral workers. He celebrates Mass on the final day of the trip in Kossuth Lajos Square.
Pope Francis stands on an altar erected outside the Parliament Building in Budapest’s Kossuth Lajos’ Square during a public outdoor Mass on April 30, 2023. Vatican Media
June 7 — The Vatican announces that Pope Francis will undergo abdominal surgery that afternoon under general anesthesia due to a hernia that is causing painful, recurring, and worsening symptoms. In his general audience that morning before the surgery, Francis says he intends to publish an apostolic letter on St. Thérèse of Lisieux, “patroness of the missions,” to mark the 150th anniversary of her birth.
June 15 — After successful surgery and a week of recovery, Pope Francis is released from Gemelli Hospital.
Aug. 2-6 — Pope Francis travels to Lisbon, Portugal, for World Youth Day 2023, taking place from Aug. 1-6. He meets with Church and civil leaders ahead of presiding at the welcoming Mass and Stations of the Cross. He also hears the confessions of several pilgrims. On Aug. 5, he visits the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, where he prays the rosary with young people with disabilities. That evening he presides over the vigil and on Sunday, Aug. 6, he celebrates the closing Mass, where he urges the 1.5 million young people present to “be not afraid,” echoing the words of the founder of World Youth Days, St. John Paul II.
Pope Francis waves at the crowd of 1.5 million people who attended the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal on Aug. 6, 2023. Vatican Media.
Aug. 31-Sept. 4 — Pope Francis travels to Mongolia, the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign country. The trip makes Francis the first pope to visit the Asian country that shares a 2,880-mile border with China, its most significant economic partner. Mongolia has a population of about 1,300 Catholics in a country of more than 3 million people.
Pope Francis meets with local priests and religious of Mongolia, which includes only 25 priests (19 religious and six diocesan), 33 women religious, and one bishop — Cardinal Giorgio Marengo — in Ulaanbaatar’s Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul on Sept. 2, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
Sept. 22-23 — On a two-day trip to Marseille, France, Pope Francis meets with local civil and religious leaders and participates in the Mediterranean Encounter, a gathering of some 120 young people of various creeds with bishops from 30 countries.
Pope Francis asks for a moment of silence at a memorial dedicated to sailors and migrants lost at sea on the first of a two-day visit to Marseille, France, Sept. 22, 2023. A Camargue cross, which comes from the Camargue area of France, represents the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The three tridents represent faith, the anchor represents hope, and the heart represents charity. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Oct. 4-29 — The Vatican hosts the first of two monthlong global assemblies of the Synod on Synodality, initiated by Pope Francis in 2021 to enhance the communion, participation, and mission of the Church. Pope Francis celebrates the closing Mass of the synod at St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29. The second and final global assembly will take place at the Vatican in October 2024.
Pope Francis at the Synod on Synodality’s closing Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29, 2023. Vatican Media
Nov. 25 — Pope Francis visits the hospital briefly for precautionary testing after coming down with the flu earlier in the day. Although he still participates in scheduled activities, other officials read his prepared remarks. The Vatican on Nov. 28 cancels the pope’s planned Dec. 1–3 trip to Dubai for the COP28 climate conference, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech, due to his illness.
Dec. 18 — The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issues the declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which authorizes nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples and couples in “irregular situations.” Various bishops from around the world voice both support for and criticism of the document.
2024
Jan. 4 — Amid widespread backlash to Fiducia Supplicans, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, publishes a five-page press release that refers to Fiducia Supplicans as “perennial doctrine” and underlines that pastoral blessings of couples in irregular situations should not be “an endorsement of the life led by those who request them.”
Jan. 14 — Pope Francis for the first time responds publicly to questions about Fiducia Supplicans in an interview on an Italian television show. The pope underlines that “the Lord blesses everyone” and that a blessing is an invitation to enter into a conversation “to see what the road is that the Lord proposes to them.”
Feb. 11 — In a ceremony attended by Argentine president Javier Milei, Pope Francis canonizes María Antonia of St. Joseph — known affectionately in the pope’s home country as “Mama Antula” — in a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. The president and the former archbishop of Buenos Aires embrace after the ceremony. Pope Francis, who has not returned to his homeland since becoming pope in 2013, has said he wants to visit Argentina in the second half of this year.
Pope Francis meets with Argentina President Javier Milei in a private audience on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
Feb. 28 — After canceling audiences the previous Saturday and having an aide read his prepared remarks at his Wednesday audience due to a “mild flu,” Pope Francis visits the hospital for diagnostic tests but returns to the Vatican afterward.
March 2 — Despite having an aide read his speech “because of bronchitis,” the pope presides over the inauguration of the 95th Judicial Year of the Vatican City State and maintains a full schedule.
March 13 — Pope Francis celebrates 11 years as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
I smell more programs with pages and pages of guidelines developed by committees and hours of cringy videos that the laity will need to sit through every year. These are simply “cover your butt” programs that the diocese can point to show “we are doing something.” After a couple of years, I think most people play the videos with the sound off and go do something useful. However, I do agree that the background checks are potentially useful, but I have never seen statistics on how may get flagged. But as a minimum, it could provide a deterrent.
Annual clean up reports were promised before the world’s press by Cardinal Cupich at the end of “McCarrick Con II”, and none what-so-ever have been published.
How many laïcisations?
It beggers belief that the media is so in step as to not question that big fat lie.
Meaningless as long as pontiff francis continues to shield Rupnick. Let’s remember that the protection of minors ought to also include other vulnerable persons- especially in those situations where there are discrepancies in power.
Our Vatican continues to divert attention away from the root cause of clergy abuse of minors, which is the presence of clergy who are not pedophiles but homosexuals. They continue to be protected and in instances elevated to key positions including the Synod on Synodality where their agenda of normalization of homosexual relations continues.
McCarrick was symptomatic of this scandal within the Church as is the Rupnik case. Victims, religious sisters whose abuse continues by the silence, the intransigence, the dearth of justice. Pray that the responsible hierarchy come to their moral senses and correct this.
Nothing says: “WE ARE OUTLAWS AND FRAUDS” better than an annual sex abuse report published by an organization run by a man who has made a career out of harboring sex abusers.
Modern Catholicism is dismissive of “men with chests” hence a matriarchal sentimentalism permeates the Church. The Modern Church seems to focus on raising boys to be good persons at the expense of being great men aspiring to the religious life or husbands of households.
I was recently subjected for a second time to the abuse prevention “program” our diocese mandates be taken by all church volunteers. It involves a police background check (about which I do not care) and watching a video about child sexual abuse which IS a problem for me. This video is nothing short of disgusting. My diocese requires all volunteers to do this every 5 years. Having weathered this disturbing and emotionally upsetting film twice, I have made the decision not to cooperate with watching it again in the future. Most likely this will mean I will be barred from church service but I dont see subjecting myself to this noxious video again. Oddly enough, priests are scarcely mentioned as potential abuse perpetrators in the film. All the potential weirdos seem to be lay people. The child/teen victims who speak go on and on about their emotional pain in excruciating and upsetting detail . And it would appear that there is an expectation that church volunteers inform on each other if observed being “too friendly” to children. I am not interested in accusing a possibly innocent person of such crimes. I am not a cop or social worker. Nor do I want to open myself up to a potential slander lawsuit. In addition my church service requires almost no exposure to children, so I do not see the need for this.
I agree that child sexual abuse is horrific and steps of some sort need to be taken. I dont think it should mean turning church members into potential informants, unless they witness something so unmistakably graphic happening that there is no other possible explanation. And as the film points out abusers are always careful to do their abuse unseen. So, what is the point?? I think the Bishops have put their responsibilities on the shoulders of the parishioners and I have no interest in being part of that.
One diocese I’m familiar with had a program that required volunteers to log into a site every month and read a lame article that had nothing to do with abuse. Then take a test on the article. If you failed to log into the site for three months you had to take the 2 hr “training” program all over again to get recertified. BTW – the so-called training program could be summed up in four words “child abuse is bad.” Well, duh.
I think the church needs to come up with something better and less intrusive to the volunteers who expend a great deal of personal time and effort volunteering for the church. Maybe if enough people drop out they will consider alternatives. I will be heartbroken to be forced to leave my ministry at some point in the future, but I dont feel as if I have an alternative. I think the ongoing mandatory nature of the program is the problem. Seeing this garbage once is more than enough to ask volunteers to do. I dont see the need to this disturbing material expose people to it over and over again.
I smell more programs with pages and pages of guidelines developed by committees and hours of cringy videos that the laity will need to sit through every year. These are simply “cover your butt” programs that the diocese can point to show “we are doing something.” After a couple of years, I think most people play the videos with the sound off and go do something useful. However, I do agree that the background checks are potentially useful, but I have never seen statistics on how may get flagged. But as a minimum, it could provide a deterrent.
Annual clean up reports were promised before the world’s press by Cardinal Cupich at the end of “McCarrick Con II”, and none what-so-ever have been published.
How many laïcisations?
It beggers belief that the media is so in step as to not question that big fat lie.
Meaningless as long as pontiff francis continues to shield Rupnick. Let’s remember that the protection of minors ought to also include other vulnerable persons- especially in those situations where there are discrepancies in power.
I’ll take this more seriously when James Martin is laicized. I won’t hold my breath.
Our Vatican continues to divert attention away from the root cause of clergy abuse of minors, which is the presence of clergy who are not pedophiles but homosexuals. They continue to be protected and in instances elevated to key positions including the Synod on Synodality where their agenda of normalization of homosexual relations continues.
McCarrick was symptomatic of this scandal within the Church as is the Rupnik case. Victims, religious sisters whose abuse continues by the silence, the intransigence, the dearth of justice. Pray that the responsible hierarchy come to their moral senses and correct this.
Nothing says: “WE ARE OUTLAWS AND FRAUDS” better than an annual sex abuse report published by an organization run by a man who has made a career out of harboring sex abusers.
Modern Catholicism is dismissive of “men with chests” hence a matriarchal sentimentalism permeates the Church. The Modern Church seems to focus on raising boys to be good persons at the expense of being great men aspiring to the religious life or husbands of households.
I was recently subjected for a second time to the abuse prevention “program” our diocese mandates be taken by all church volunteers. It involves a police background check (about which I do not care) and watching a video about child sexual abuse which IS a problem for me. This video is nothing short of disgusting. My diocese requires all volunteers to do this every 5 years. Having weathered this disturbing and emotionally upsetting film twice, I have made the decision not to cooperate with watching it again in the future. Most likely this will mean I will be barred from church service but I dont see subjecting myself to this noxious video again. Oddly enough, priests are scarcely mentioned as potential abuse perpetrators in the film. All the potential weirdos seem to be lay people. The child/teen victims who speak go on and on about their emotional pain in excruciating and upsetting detail . And it would appear that there is an expectation that church volunteers inform on each other if observed being “too friendly” to children. I am not interested in accusing a possibly innocent person of such crimes. I am not a cop or social worker. Nor do I want to open myself up to a potential slander lawsuit. In addition my church service requires almost no exposure to children, so I do not see the need for this.
I agree that child sexual abuse is horrific and steps of some sort need to be taken. I dont think it should mean turning church members into potential informants, unless they witness something so unmistakably graphic happening that there is no other possible explanation. And as the film points out abusers are always careful to do their abuse unseen. So, what is the point?? I think the Bishops have put their responsibilities on the shoulders of the parishioners and I have no interest in being part of that.
One diocese I’m familiar with had a program that required volunteers to log into a site every month and read a lame article that had nothing to do with abuse. Then take a test on the article. If you failed to log into the site for three months you had to take the 2 hr “training” program all over again to get recertified. BTW – the so-called training program could be summed up in four words “child abuse is bad.” Well, duh.
I think the church needs to come up with something better and less intrusive to the volunteers who expend a great deal of personal time and effort volunteering for the church. Maybe if enough people drop out they will consider alternatives. I will be heartbroken to be forced to leave my ministry at some point in the future, but I dont feel as if I have an alternative. I think the ongoing mandatory nature of the program is the problem. Seeing this garbage once is more than enough to ask volunteers to do. I dont see the need to this disturbing material expose people to it over and over again.