Pope Francis has stated that despite possible resistance or backlash in some locations, the Catholic Church would continue to take action against clerical sexual abuse.
The pope claimed there was “resistance, but with each new step there is growing awareness that this is the way to go” in remarks to Reuters that were published on Friday.
Pope Francis said the “Church started zero tolerance slowly and moved forward. And I think the direction taken on this is irreversible.”
The 85-year-old commented of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, “I totally support the commission,” in remarks to Reuters on July 2.
This organisation, founded by Pope Francis in 2014, is “established in the dicastery” formerly known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, according to the new Vatican constitution.
According to Reuters, both its secretary, Father Andrew Small, and its president, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, received praise from Pope Francis.
Late in April 2022, the pope requested that the committee create an annual report on the efforts made by the Catholic Church worldwide to protect children and frail persons. Francis emphasised that “abuse in any form is unacceptable” during an address at the occasion.
As stated in the motu proprio Vos estis lux mundi, the pope has also asked the commission to support bishops’ conferences in creating facilities where victims of abuse may receive “acceptance and an attentive hearing, and be accompanied in a process of healing and justice.”
Following the Vatican’s abuse summit in 2019, which took place in the wake of the Theodore McCarrick crisis, the pope made the proclamation Vos estis lux mundi, which means “You are the light of the world.”
A canonical strategy to deal with the investigation of bishops accused of sexual abuse or coercion, or of interfering with such investigations, was outlined in the Legislation.