The Vatican announcement didn't mention O'Malley's other main role as the pope's main adviser on fighting clergy sexual abuse as head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, suggesting he would remain in that capacity until a new commission leader is named.

St John Paul II had tapped O'Malley to take over in Boston in 2003 at the height of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that had exploded there following an investigation by The Boston Globe newspaper. Revelations of years of abuse and coverups by the church led to the downfall of then-archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace in December 2002.

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Pope Francis consistently says "no" when asked if women can be deacons or join the Catholic clergy.

But Francis supports discussion about the women's diaconate. This October's synod working document affirms "theological reflection should continue".

Since last December the Pope and his Council of Cardinal Advisors - the "C9" - have had four meetings where women's input has been sought.

Talks from the December council meeting were published in February. Speeches three women made at that meeting and two cardinals' responses to them are included in a book published on July 11.

The Church "has sometimes fallen into the trap of considering loyalty to ideas to be more important than attention to reality" the Pope's foreword to the book says.

The women's diaconate

At the February meeting, Salesian Sister Linda Pocher (pictured) told the C9 that justifications for reserving ordained ministry to men "are weak, and it is important to recognise and be aware of it".

Biblically, the 12 apostles' calling cannot be equated with the institution of priestly or episcopal orders as they are understood today.

Theological justifications for excluding women from holy orders that assumed women were inherently incapable of holding positions in the public sphere don't hold true today, she said.

Furthermore historical papal decisions don't justify maintaining the practice.

Many popes have altered positions held by their predecessors.

Some things won't change

Cardinal Seán O'Malley responded to Pocher's suggestions saying Church tradition reserves priestly ordination for men.

But Church leadership should find ways to open more ministries to women since male-only ordained ministry "will not change".

It's not a matter of men being superior to women.

While women must be able to fully contribute to the Church, "we cannot allow ourselves to make mistakes acting hastily or without a full consideration of the possible consequences of these changes".

Furthermore, women everywhere need to occupy more leadership positions - in the Vatican, in archdioceses, dioceses and parishes he said.

Anglican view

Jo Bailey Wells, deputy secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, spoke to the C9 about the 1978 Lambeth Conference.

It gave each church the authority to decide whether to ordain women.

Part of the theological rationale was the idea that God created all humanity with the capacity to lead and govern.

Women's subordination to men followed humanity's fall from God's grace, she said.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich replied, saying the Anglican ordained ministry is "not entirely adaptable to Catholic ordained ministry.

"In the Catholic Church we have a unity of doctrine and a unity of the episcopal college, in communion with the bishop of Rome, which represents the universal Church" he said.

There are divisions between Anglican parishes supporting women's ordination and those that don't - particularly in recognising women bishops' authority, he notes.

He is concerned that ordaining women could hinder the Church's warming relations with the Orthodox churches.

He wonders if the Church's synodal path that recognises its members' baptismal dignity in which "ordained ministry becomes true service" could "reduce the frustration of many women".

Source

• United States Catholic Bishops Conference

O'Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM), urged Vatican offices to exercise pastoral prudence and avoid displaying Rupnik's art, which could imply exoneration or indifference to the suffering of abuse victims.

O'Malley's proactive stance contrasts with recent comments from Paolo Ruffini, head of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication.

Ruffini defended his office's use of Rupnik's artwork, stating "Removing, deleting, destroying art has not ever been a good choice". He stressed the importance of not prejudging Rupnik, as the investigation by the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is ongoing.

Rupnik, renowned for his large-scale mosaics adorning over 200 Catholic sites worldwide including the Vatican's Redemptoris Mater Chapel, faces accusations from at least 30 adult women.

Despite the severity of the allegations, Ruffini maintained that using existing images of Rupnik's work does not undermine the Church's commitment to supporting victims.

Abuse doesn't know age

The controversy arose during Ruffini's address at the Catholic Media Conference in Atlanta where he suggested that removing Rupnik's art would not signify greater solidarity with victims.

He also said that "we're not talking about minors" and noted that, as Christians, "we are asked not to judge".

Ruffini's remarks sparked backlash, with critics arguing that the Church should demonstrate sensitivity by discontinuing the display of Rupnik's art until the investigation concludes.

One observer took issue with Ruffini's apparent dismissal of the allegations since they involve adults rather than minors, saying "Abuse doesn't know age".

In contrast, O'Malley's letter to Vatican departments highlighted the need to avoid sending a message that suggests the Holy See is indifferent to the psychological distress of abuse victims.

"Pope Francis has urged us to be sensitive to and walk in solidarity with those harmed by all forms of abuse" O'Malley wrote, and "to bear this in mind when choosing images to accompany the publication of messages, articles and reflections through the various communication channels available to us."

Sources

National Catholic Reporter

Crux Now

CathNews New Zealand

The commission held its plenary assembly in Rome from May 3-6, during which they discussed various topics and made several important decisions.

According to the commission's May 8 press release, changes include a proposal updating the Church's guidelines for addressing clergy sexual abuse, a forthcoming "audit tool" to "evaluate the adequacy of local Churches' safeguarding guidelines.

"At times, this new direction has been both steep and fast for all of us, reflecting the urgency of the challenges. This accelerated pace over the last six months has caused growing pains as we have attempted to respond to both short- and longer-term needs," Cardinal O'Malley said in the press release.

"In our plenary, we developed key adjustments to our working methodology so as to clarify our different roles and to create a sense of common ownership of our mandate and of our collective responsibility for its implementation," Cardinal O'Malley said.

To ensure greater access to training and assistance for victims and their families in poorer parts of the world, the commission established a fund made up of contributions from bishops' conferences.

Furthermore, the commission approved a five-year strategic plan identifying objectives, goals, and performance indicators to measure progress and provide accountability to stakeholders.

The commission also discussed new tasks, including how to respond to Pope Francis's request to combat online child abuse and commission an in-depth study on vulnerability in its various forms. The commission agreed to equip church entities with robust measures to combat this emerging area of abuse.

Changes made to create sense of collective responsibility

During the plenary assembly, the commission made key adjustments to its working methodology to clarify different roles and create a sense of common ownership of its mandate and collective responsibility for its implementation.

The statement alluded to criticism made by Jesuit Fr Hans Zollner, a leading expert on abuse, who recently resigned from the commission due to concerns over how the advisory body had been working over the past years.

O'Malley expressed gratitude to Pope Francis and emphasised that the commission recognised the need for a visible and physical centre dedicated to the fight against sexual abuse in the church and a welcome centre for those impacted by abuse.

The new framework will be submitted to church leaders, victims' groups and other key stakeholders for a period of public comment before final approval later this year.

Sources

National Catholic Reporter

The Tablet

National Catholic Register

CathNews New Zealand

Billed as the Pathways to Prevention, Healing and Justice Inaugural Sunrise Walk, it coincided with the annual day of observance for the prevention of child sexual exploitation and abuse established by the Council of Europe in 2015.

The Catholic leaders and sexual abuse survivors were part of a group that included lay advocates, New York Board of Rabbi's executive vice president Rabbi Joe Potasnik and Islamic Relief USA president Anwar Khan.

Before the walk, the group held hands and listened to prayers from leaders of each faith. It was capped off by Cardinal Seán O'Malley of Boston, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

"We're here representing so many survivors, people around the world, we're united with them in prayer, and in solidarity," O'Malley said.

"Father Goodness, we invoke your blessing upon us. Heal all of the broken hearts so damaged by this terrible scourge of abuse. Help us to be ever committed to safeguarding, and bringing some reconciliation, and love into our world. Help us repair the broken world we're living in. In this, we ask, in Jesus's name, Amen."

Auxiliary Bishop Elias Lorenzo of Newark has worked on child sexual abuse cases for years. He called them "some of the most horrible stories" he has ever heard.

"This work still needs to be done. We are not finished," Lorenzo told Crux. "We in the church are trying to address [this problem] and walk, literally, with survivors to find hope and healing in their lives, and hopefully in that common walk, they will feel comfortable returning to church and into the love that God can give them."

The abuse solidarity walk ended alongside the harbour, where further words of support and prayers were shared.

Father Gerard McGlone is a clergy sex abuse survivor and member of the Global Collaborative group that sponsored the event. He noted the significance of the walk coinciding with the US Bishops Conference fall plenary.

McGlone commented that the walk "sends a clear message" that Catholic Church leaders recognize the problem of child sex abuse. That the abuse occurs both within the church, and in general society.

"For us to be able to preach about it, for us to be able to teach about putting survivor's stories first, is really the point of this," he told Crux.

Sources

Crux Now

The letter, written in Italian, was sent to Pope Francis who requested it be made public with the author's identity withheld.

"Please, do not sweep things under the carpet because then they start to stink, putrefy, and the rug itself will rot away. Let us realize that if we hide these facts, when we keep our mouths shut, we hide the filth, and we thus become a collaborator," said the adult survivor in the letter.

"To live in the truth is to follow the example of Jesus Christ, who never closed his eyes to sin or the sinner, but who "lived the truth with love … (who) indicated the sin and the sinner with bitter love," the letter said.

US Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, said, "During this time of renewal and pastoral conversion in which the church is facing the scandal and wounds of sexual abuse inflicted everywhere upon so many children of God, our Holy Father received from a survivor a courageous testimony offered to all seminarians."

By sharing this testimony publicly, "Pope Francis wants to welcome the voices of all wounded people and to show all priests who proclaim the Gospel the path that leads to authentic service of God to the benefit of all vulnerable people," the cardinal wrote in an introduction to the letter posted on the commission's website.

In the letter, the woman explained how she was harmed for years as a girl by a priest, leaving her with many serious mental health issues. This includes dissociative identity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, insomnia, nightmares and a pervasive sense of fear — of others, of making mistakes, of being touched.

"I am afraid of priests, of being near them," she wrote. She can no longer go to Mass because this "sacred space" that used to be her second home now only triggers pain and fear.

She said she is trying to "survive, to feel joy, but in reality, it is an incredibly difficult battle."

"I am here also in the name of other victims ... of children who have been deeply harmed, whose childhood, purity and respect have been stolen ... who were betrayed and whose boundless trust was taken advantage of ... of children whose hearts beat, who breathe, who live ... but they have been killed once, twice, many times. ... Their souls have been turned into tiny bloody pieces," she wrote.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• America Magazine
• Vatican News

In a video message posted on the Archdiocese of Boston website after the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report was released, O'Malley expressed his concern about the Church hierarchy's lack of accountability and offered a way to ensure improvements are made.

While many perpetrators have been held accountable for their crimes, O'Malley says the Church has yet "to establish clear and transparent systems of accountability and consequence for Church leadership whose failures have allowed these crimes to occur."

All who participate in the Church's mission must "embrace spiritual conversion.

"Legal transparency and pastoral accountability" must be demanded of them, he suggested.

This means immediate action needs to be taken, because "the clock is ticking."

O'Malley's comments build on those he made in late July after numerous allegations about McCarrick's sexual misconduct and abuse of diocesan seminarians emerged.

At that time O'Malley suggested future allegations against bishops needed to be handled as a matter of highest priority.

This would involve a new system being put in place to handle complaints against bishops.

The reforms should be clearly announced, so there can be no doubt about how such cases should be handled in the future, he said.

In his view, it's important for the Church to win back Catholics' trust - which can only be addressed with the "involvement and leadership of lay men and women in our Church, individuals who can bring their competence, experience and skills to the task we face."

"We must proceed quickly and with purpose. There is no time to waste," he said.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Vatican News
• Image: Catholic News Agency

Numerous accusations of sexual abuse of minors and adults have arisen against former Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

O'Malley acknowledged "a credible and substantiated allegation" involving a minor and McCarrick when the prelate was a priest in the New York diocese.

He also acknowledged the diocese's investigation of a second incident also involving a minor and McCarrick.

"These cases and others require more than apologies," O'Malley says.

"They raise up the fact that when charges are brought regarding a bishop or a cardinal, a major gap still exists in the Church's policies on sexual conduct and sexual abuse."

O'Malley says while the Church in the United States has adopted a zero tolerance policy regarding the sexual abuse of minors by priests, clearer procedures for cases involving bishops are needed.

"Transparent and consistent protocols are needed to provide justice for the victims and to adequately respond to the legitimate indignation of the community.

"The Church needs a strong and comprehensive policy to address bishops' violations of the vows of celibacy in cases of the criminal abuse of minors and in cases involving adults."

O'Malley says he has formed these opinions after working in several dioceses and with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

"The Church needs to swiftly and decisively take action regarding these matters of critical importance," he says.

"In every instance of claims made by victims of sexual abuse, whether criminal violations or the abuse of power, the primary concern must be for the victim, their family and their loved ones.

"The victims are to be commended for bringing to light their tragic experience and must be treated with respect and dignity."

The accusations "are understandably a source of great disappointment and anger for many," Cardinal O'Malley says.

O'Malley says three actions are now required of the Church. These involve:

• a fair and rapid adjudication of these accusations
• an assessment of the adequacy of the Church's standards and policies at every level, and especially in the case of bishops
• communicating more clearly to the Catholic faithful and to all victims the process for reporting allegations against bishops and cardinals.

"Failure to take these actions will threaten and endanger the already weakened moral authority of the Church and can destroy the trust required for the Church to minister to Catholics and have a meaningful role in the wider civil society," O'Malley says.

"In this moment there is no greater imperative for the Church than to hold itself accountable to address these matters, which I will bring to my upcoming meetings with the Holy See with great urgency and concern."

Source

• The Boston Pilot
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

During his recent trip to South America, Pope Francis addressed concerns about the expiry of the Commission's mandate, saying the time taken to nominate members to the body was normal.

He has reappointed eight of the previous Pontifical Commission members added nine new members. Six former members have not been reappointed.

The Commission's 16 members (eight men and eight women) will be led by Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston as its president.

Msgr. Robert Oliver of Boston will be its secretary.

The Commission has released a statement saying some of its members are abuse survivors. They have not yet publicly identified themselves.

The Commission says it "believes that their privacy in this matter is to be respected."

The nine new members of the commission come from a diverse set of places, including: Ethiopia, India, Tonga, Brazil, Australia and the Netherlands.

The new members are:

• Benyam Mezmur, who teaches law at Ethiopia's Dullah Omar Institute;
• Teresa Kettelkamp, a former executive director of the U.S. bishops' secretariat of child and youth protection
• Religious of Jesus and Mary Sr. Arina Gonsalves, a vice provincial for her order in India;
• Neville Owen, a former senior judge of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Western Australia;
• Sinaelelea Fe'ao, coordinator of religious education for the Tonga and Niue diocese;
• Myriam Wijlens, a canon law professor at the University of Erfurt in Germany;
• Ernesto Caffo, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Italy's University of Modena and Reggio Emilia;
• Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood Sr. Jane Bertelsen, her order's congregational leader; and,
• Nelson Giovanelli, founder of a Brazilian drug rehabilitation center.

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• America Magazine
• Vatican News
• Image: Catholic Herald

Scicluna will travel to New York next week to interview the victim, Juan Carlos Cruz. The victim is at the centre of a scandal involving Pope Francis.

Cruz says a letter he wrote in 2015 asking Pope Francis to listen to his testimony about clergy abuse and its subsequent cover-up has been ignored.

The Associated Press (AP) claims Francis received the victim's letter in 2015, which detailed how a priest sexually abused him and how other Chilean clergy ignored it.

The AP statements contradict Francis's insistence that no victims had come forward to denounce the coverup.

If the APs statements are true, they could undermine Francis's assertions of "zero tolerance" for sexual abuse and those who seek to cover it up.

The accusations against Francis emerged last month during his trip to South America.

Francis said he had not heard from any victims about Bishop Juan Barros, who is accused of witnessing and ignoring abuse perpetrated by Fr. Fernando Karadima.

His response that the accusations were slanderous sparked an outcry in Chile.

Marie Collins, who was a founding member of Pope Francis's Commission for the Protection of Minors but who resigned in early 2017, says his handling of the Chilean abuse survivor's letter has "definitely undermined credibility, trust and hope" in Francis.

"He has said all the right things and he has expressed all the right views on abuse, and the harm and the hurt, but in this case at least it would seem his actions have not matched the words, and that is sad," she says.

Collins says she personally handed the letter from Cruz to Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who heads the Commission for the Protection of Minors.

"Cardinal O'Malley said he would hand it to the pope, and he told us later he had done so and that he had discussed the concerns with the pope himself," Collins says.

Francis told reporters on a flight back from South America that no victims had come forward to him about the case.

Source

• The Spec
• Crux Now
• The Star
• Image: Duna

Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley told US network CBS that the case of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City is "a question the Holy See needs to address urgently".

Bishop Finn was found guilty in 2012 of a criminal misdemeanour count of shielding a priest who was a threat to children.

The priest, Shawn Ratigan, was found guilty in 2013 of producing child pornography and was sentenced to 50 years in jail.

Bishop Finn was sentenced to two years probation for waiting six months before telling police that diocesan officials had found pornographic images of young girls on Ratigan's computer.

Cardinal O'Malley, who heads the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, said Pope Francis recognises the need to address the Bishop Finn situation.

Speaking to CBS News, Cardinal O'Malley agreed that under the Catholic Church's zero-tolerance policy, he wouldn't let Bishop Finn teach Sunday school in Boston, let alone head a diocese.

CBS interviewer Norah O'Donnell put it to Cardinal O'Malley that one of the "biggest scandals" of the Church in recent years is the way bishops handled priests accused of abuse.

Cardinal O'Malley responded that is something he and the commission are working on.

"One of the first things that we came up was the importance of accountability and we're looking at how the Church can have protocols and how to respond when a bishop has not been responsible for protection of children in his diocese," he stated.

In September, Canadian Archbishop Terrence Prendergast visited Kansas City diocese on behalf of the Vatican to investigate Bishop Finn's leadership.

In the CBS interview, Cardinal O'Malley also called a Vatican doctrinal investigation of American nuns "a disaster".

Cardinal O'Malley is one of the council of cardinal advisors to Pope Francis.

The CBS 60 Minutes item was broadcast on November 16.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Crux Now
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

The Commission for the Protection of Minors, which Pope Francis established in December, will also have more representatives from other countries and disciplines.

Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins is already a member of the commission, headed by Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston.

The commission is now awaiting the Pope's approval of members' latest efforts as they aim to lay out a pastoral approach to helping victims and prevent future abuse.

Ms Collins told media that the group has agreed on its provisional statutes and finalised a list of potential new members.

She also said that the commission has created working groups that will focus on priestly formation, accountability and reaching out to survivors.

The commission met for the third time at the Vatican on October 4-5.

Getting input from survivors is "essential" for an appropriate, effective and compassionate response to the crisis, said Mark Vincent Healy, one of six abuse survivors who met Pope Francis at the Vatican in July.

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During an impromptu media session on his flight back from the Holy Land, the Pope said the meeting would take place in the first week in June.

Six to eight victims would attend and these would come from various countries, including Germany, England and Ireland, he said.

Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the head of the new safeguarding commission, would be present, the Pope noted.

But Boston archdiocese and a Vatican spokesman indicated no date had yet been set for the meeting.

They expect it to happen in a few months time.

Pope Francis is not known ever to have met with a group of sex abuse victims, something Pope Benedict did several times in various countries.

Marie Collins, a sex abuse survivor from Ireland whom the Pope named to the child protection commission, met him at the Vatican in May.

Pope Francis told reporters that sexual abuse of children by priests was an "ugly crime" and compared it to performing "a satanic Mass".

"Such abuse is a betrayal of the Lord's body," he said.

"We must move ahead, ahead, zero tolerance," he added.

Pope Francis said there would be no preferential treatment when it comes to child abuse.

The Church cannot have privileged "daddy's boys", exempt from punishment when it comes to sex abuse of minors, he said.

He noted that three bishops are currently under investigation and one has been found guilty, with punishments pending.

Francis did not say whether this was for abusing minors or for covering up abuse by others.

A spokesman for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests dismissed the planned meaning as a meaningless public relations gesture.

SNAP executive director David Clohessy called the meeting "another nice bit of symbolism that will leave no child better off and bring no real reform to a continuing, scandal-ridden Church hierarchy".

Other victims' advocacy groups welcomed the Pope's announcement.

Pope Francis also answered reporters' questions on investigations into Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, priestly celibacy, communion for divorced and remarried Catholics and Pope Pius XII.

The Pontiff also announced visits to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Tablet
• Fox News
• Religion News Service
• Image: New York Daily News

Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston said this at the tenth National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington on May 13.

He heads the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors set up by Pope Francis.

"People can be overwhelmed by the bad example of priests and bishops who fail to fulfill their calling," the cardinal said at the breakfast.

But he observed that while contemporary society offers the example of "superficial, self-absorbed" celebrities, the Church proposes the lives of the saints as examples of the call to holiness.

"The saints model for us the struggle to overcome human weakness and sinfulness and embrace God's will in our lives," the cardinal said.

He pointed to Servant of God Dorothy Day, who had an abortion and another child out of wedlock, as an example of how the Church "call[s] everyone to conversion".

Dorothy Day "became one of the most outstanding persons in the history of the Church in our country".

The cardinal called on Catholics to "break the habit" of presenting the Gospel in a way that "deceives people into thinking that they can be Christians and remain strangers".

The privatisation of religion and individualism is "poisonous" to the communal nature of the body of Christ, he added.

The Capuchin said Catholics must embrace Pope Francis's call to foster a "culture of encounter" and practice "the art of accompaniment" as disciples of Jesus Christ.

"Our task is to turn consumers into disciples and disciple-makers," he said.

"We need to prepare people to witness to the faith and not to send people into the witness-protection program."

Cardinal O'Malley said belief in the Gospel requires accepting the Church's teaching on the human person, which extends to immigrants living and working in the US illegally.

He called for new and more just immigration laws to replace "a system that is broken and woefully inadequate".

Sources

• National Catholic Register
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Cathnewsusa

After protests that the event was offensive to Catholics, the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club initially decided to move the event off campus.

But another venue could not be found, so the club dropped its sponsorship of the re-enactment.

It was to have been performed by members of the New York-based Satanic Temple.

The Boston Globe reported that temple spokesman Lucien Greaves saying a black mass was performed later at a nearby bar, but this was not verified.

A consecrated host was not used, reportedly.

Greaves said he understood re-enactment organisers received lot of vitriolic hate mail.

The initial plan to hold a black mass on the Harvard campus prompted widespread outrage.

The Archdiocese of Boston held a eucharistic procession and a holy hour at a church near Harvard at the same time the event was originally scheduled.

More than 1500 people packed the Catholic church.

Among them was Harvard president Drew Faust, who earlier had decried the student sponsorship of the planned re-enactment as "abhorrent", but also defended students' right to free speech.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston had called the planned black mass "repugnant".

"There's a great fascination with evil in the world, but you know, it doesn't lead to anything good," Cardinal O'Malley told the Boston Globe.

Nearly 60,000 students, alumni, and faculty members signed a petition against holding the black mass on campus, according to a statement released by Harvard Rhodes scholar and Catholic Aurora Griffin.

The Harvard Extension club has continuously urged critics to widen their understanding of satanic worship.

On May 9, an unidentified spokesperson said the re-enactment was meant to be educational, not offensive.

The spokesperson told the Boston Globe that many satanists are animal rights activists, vegetarians, and artists with a strong sense of community.

Sources

• Boston Globe
• The Harvard Crimson
• Time
• Harvard University
• Image: Harvesting the Fruit

The new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors held its first meeting from May 1-3 at the Vatican.

Commission head Cardinal Sean O'Malley says a person's rank in the Church should lead to special treatment or protection.

"Our concern is to make sure that there are clear and effective protocols to deal with superiors in the Church who have not fulfilled their obligations to protect children," he said.

The board will draw up protocols for the Pope to consider.

Cardinal O'Malley says they will lead to an open process that will hold people accountable to their responsibility to protect children around the world.

But some still think this area is not a universal problem, the cardinal said.

"In many people's minds it is an American problem, an Irish problem or a German problem," he said.

"The Church has to face it is everywhere in the world. There is so much denial. The Church has to respond to make the Church safe for children."

"There are a lot of people who think it's limited to certain countries and that it's been dealt with and now we can move on to something else and that is simply not true," he said.

"The Church needs to always be reviewing what we have done, trying to improve what we have done, monitoring what we have done because it's possible to have beautiful policies, but if they are not implemented, it's only window dressing."

"We will propose initiatives to encourage local responsibility around the world and the mutual sharing of ‘best practices' for the protection of all minors, including programs for training, education, formation and responses to abuse."

Clerical abuse survivor and commission member Marie Collins met Pope Francis twice during the meeting.

It is believed this is the first time Pope Francis has met with an abuse victim.

Last month, Pope Francis sought forgiveness for the "evil" committed by priests who molested children.

Sources

• ABC
• Toronto Sun
• Religion News Service
• La Stampa
• Image: LA Times

Hundreds of would-be migrants trying to cross from Mexico into the US die each year in the desert of dehydration or hypothermia or in shootings by border patrols or vigilantes.

The bishops also gathered to urge the US Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

On April 1, Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston gave the homily, speaking of the role immigrants play in US society and the suffering they endure to reach the country.

"Despite the xenophobic ranting of a segment of the population, our immigrant population contributes mightily to the economy and wellbeing of the United States," Cardinal O'Malley said in Arizona.

The cardinal quoted Pope Francis's comments on the Italian island of Lampedusa last year about the "globalisation of indifference".

"We have lost a sense of responsibility for our brothers and sisters," Pope Francis said.

Cardinal O'Malley quoted Pope Francis further: "The culture of comfort, which makes us think only of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of other people."

People from Mexico attended the Mass on the other side of the border fence and received Communion through the iron fence slats.

The previous day, the bishops had walked along rough desert paths used by migrants.

They crawled under strands of barbed wire, scrunching low to walk through a culvert beneath a road, and dodged cactus and sticker bushes.

The group then met with the Border Patrol at their regional headquarters, before crossing into Mexico to serve dinner at a church-sponsored "comedor," or soup kitchen.

The "comedor" serves people who have been deported or who are figuring out whether they want to try to sneak into the United States.

Sources

• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Fox News Latino