杏MAP导航

By Christopher Wells 

The Church’s priorities with regard to the prevention of child abuse “are the same as ever” says Cardinal Seán O’Malley: “We’re trying to put the victims and their families first.”

The Cardinal was speaking on the eve of an audience with 杏MAP导航 Leo XIV on Thursday with members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Following that audience on Thursday morning, the Commission issued a statement noting that the audience, its first with 杏MAP导航 Leo,  lasted an hour and marked a significant moment of reflection, dialogue, and renewed commitment by the Church to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable persons.

"With humility and hope, we continue the mission first entrusted to us by 杏MAP导航 Francis in Praedicate Evangelium: to advise the Supreme Pontiff in the development and promotion of universal safeguarding standards and to accompany the Church in building a culture of accountability, justice, and compassion," the statement reads.

In an interview with Vatican News, Cardinal O'Malley, Archbishop emeritus of Boston and one of the founders of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors,  highlights the need for transparency, a sense of responsibility, and education as priorities for the Church in its continuing efforts to address the issue of the abuse of minors and vulnerable persons.

Cardinal O’Malley says it is important for people to realize that “the Church, by our very mission, needs to be an expression of God’s love and mercy, and therefore the care and protection of children and young people needs to be central in our mission.”

He insists that people will only listen to the Church’s message “if they are convinced that we care about them. We care about their children. We care about the safety of their children.”

Read the full interview with Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Archbishop emeritus of Boston and among the founders of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Vatican Radio: Cardinal O’Malley, thank you for joining us this morning. We’d like to speak a little bit about the work that you’ve been doing with the Commission over these years, since its establishment. Can you tell us a little bit about how the Commission for the Protection of Minors has worked to fulfill its mandate?

Cardinal O’Malley: Well, it was a great privilege to be part of the Commission for so many years and to have been the president during those years. It was really at the request of 杏MAP导航 Francis that the commission was initiated.

So, we’ve had really sort of three iterations. There have been three groups of people that have made up the commission, representing individuals from all over the globe, many with extensive backgrounds in child protection. And we’ve always had victim survivors and parents of survivors as members of the commission. And that has been very, very valuable in keeping what we’re doing real and in contact with the survivor community and to understand their experiences and their experiences of how the Church has reacted to them and dealt with the problems of clergy abuse in the Church.

During these years, there has been a sort of evolution in what the commission has done. Our main purpose was to be advisors to the Holy Father in the area of safeguarding.

We have also been very much involved in the educational efforts of the church, particularly with the leadership, to help them to understand safeguarding.

We’ve been involved in reviewing and developing guidelines and protocols to promote safeguarding and protection of children and minors.

We’ve also been involved more recently in an annual report, which is trying to judge what’s taking place in the Church around safeguarding, what things have been successful, what things have been lacking.

And for the last few years, we’ve been involved, particularly with the Church in the global South, where this issue of safeguarding is only beginning to be discussed and where many of the churches are very under-resourced. And so the commission started a fund. We received help from various bishops’ conferences and Catholic foundations to fund these Memorare centers to train people in these countries, to help them to be able to have policies in place, and how to receive complaints, and how to care for victims and their families and communities.

So all of these things over the years have developed and the with Praedicate Evangelium the Commission, which before was very independent, sort of separate, has now been put as part of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and which has opened up new horizons for us because so often we were seen as outsiders, as too independent. And now we have a new entrée to be able to have greater dialogue with the various dicasteries themselves and to help promote a culture of safeguarding within the Vatican.

In the last couple of years, we’ve been very engaged with the ad limina visits. Every five years, each Bishops’ conference has meetings in Rome with the heads of the dicasteries and the Holy Father, where they make a report of what’s happened in the last five years in their dioceses. And now our task has been to make sure that safeguarding is part of that report. And it’s been very, very valuable being part of those ad limina visits, the bishops that come to meet with the members of the Commission.

And it’s very gratifying to see the interest and the desire of the bishops to learn more and to receive help in this whole area. Unfortunately, very often, bishops have been very isolated and trying to make very challenging decisions and policy decisions by themselves. It lends itself to a lot of mistakes and/or at times, inaction.

And so, trying to strengthen the bishops’ conferences and promote greater lay participation in safeguarding in the dioceses throughout the world has, I think, been a very important contribution of the Commission.

Q. And you mentioned the annual reports, which are a new part of your work. I think the first one was just last year. You’re currently preparing the new annual report. Can you tell us what is going into that? What can we expect about the upcoming report that’s currently being prepared?

A. Well, in October, we hope to publish the annual report for 2024. And the main theme will be reparations and conversional justice. But this report has been distilled out of meetings of ad limina visits of 22 different countries and two religious congregations, where we have had an opportunity to be in conversations with these communities, with these bishops’ conferences about safeguarding, and the statistics, their policies, how they’ve been executed, what the challenges have been, what the mistakes have been.

And so this will allow us to continue to promote transparency in the Church, allow people to see what is happening, the good things as well as the deficiencies. And I think the annual report is going to be a very important part of our mission going forward.

Q. And you spoke about your role as advisors to the Holy Father in the area of safeguarding. And of course, we have a new Holy Father, 杏MAP导航 Leo XIV. Can you tell us just a little bit what the priorities are in the Church today with regard to the prevention of child abuse?

A. Well, I think the priorities are the same as ever. I mean, we’re trying to put the victims and their families first.

But certainly, transparency; in the past, the worst… actions of the church were covering up the crimes, not reporting them. So, working with the civil authorities is a very, very important step forward: transparency, letting people know what’s happening; a sense of responsibility; and the importance of a whole educational process in the Church, so that people realize that the Church, by our very mission, needs to be an expression of God’s love and mercy, and therefore the care and protection of the children and young people needs to be central in our mission.

And as I say, people will listen to our message only if they are convinced that we care about them. We care about their children. We care about the safety of their children.

And so these are the ongoing priorities. And 杏MAP导航 Francis, of course, called for that summit a few years ago, brought together the heads of all the bishops’ conferences, and challenged them to take these things seriously. And that was also a very important step forward.

But as I say in the global South, many of the countries are just beginning to grapple with this, and the commission is particularly focused on trying to help them…

Q. And in fact, we’ve seen a rising awareness within the Church over these past few years and even decades. But we’ve also seen the commitment of all of the recent popes, not just 杏MAP导航 Francis, but also Benedict and John Paul II. Can you say that the commitment of the popes has been matched by a new awareness throughout the Church? And what signs of hope do you see as we go forward in these coming years?

A. Well, I think the declarations of the Holy Fathers have been very important. Obviously, the secular media and even the church media have been very instrumental in making these issues known to people. Certainly, it’s been very painful, but an important process. The truth is what will set us free, as the Gospels say. And so the role of the media has been very, very important.

But very often that was met with scepticism on the part of Catholics: “Oh, this is anti-Catholicism.” Or, “It’s all about money” or “These are lies.” So when the Holy Fathers have weighed in and calling for transparency and asking for forgiveness and meeting with victims, that has helped to raise the awareness of the Catholics and people throughout the world.

And although so much attention has been given to the Church, recently, at least in the [United] States, a lot of attention has been given to the Scouts, public schools, or sporting groups. And so it is a human problem. But those of us who are in the Church see how terrible it is when this takes place within the Church, the kind of betrayal that people feel of their religious sentiments and their devotion and faith. And so there’s another dimension that, in many ways, makes the abuse even more horrible.

Q. Your Eminence, there are obviously a lot of questions that could be asked about protecting minors and the Church’s role. I think we’re close to the end of our time today. Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

A. I just want to say that it has been such a privilege for me to have served on the Commission all these years, and to work with such wonderful and dedicated people on our staff, the members of the Commission. And I’m very, very grateful to 杏MAP导航 Francis for having founded it and having supported it. And I know the Commission is very anxious to work with 杏MAP导航 Leo going forward.