This was Bill Kilgallon, a New Zealander who sat on the Commission's first term.

He says the achievements include the establishment of the body itself.

It brought together people from different professional backgrounds from all around the world.

Mr Kilgallon chaired a working group dealing with guidelines.

It started with those for the prevention of and response to sexual abuse in the Church.

He says the completion of templates for guidelines to help bishops' conferences around the world is "a very significant piece of work."

He lists other achievements as recommendations on changes to Church law and practice.

These set out how to deal with complaints of abuse, time limits for abuse cases and a better definition of a "vulnerable adult."

Mr Kilgallon says priests in training now undergo more safeguarding. And there is greater screening before recruitment.

Other working groups dealt with how the Church should listen to the voices of survivors.

"So there were some significant achievements, but it was very much at the beginning of work at the Commission," he says.

At the end of the Commission's first term, Mr Kilgallon says work had begun on issues such as how to deal with offenders in the Church and how to respond to children of priests.

Commission frustrations

But he can also talk about frustrations.

Far from being helpful, he says the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was at times obstructive. That led to one of the best Commission members leaving and probably led to the Pope not reappointing the prefect of the congregation.

Mr Kilgallon says he had worked in advisory roles to government before, in the UK.

He's found opposition like the Congregation's a common institutional reaction.

Mr Kilgallon is critical of the gap between the first and second terms of the Commission.

He says there could have been a seamless hand-over but a delay lead to the impression "that it wasn't being treated seriously" by the Vatican.

He always thought the Commission would continue, but "it wasn't helpful to have that gap."

Kilgallon says he had not expected reappointment because the Commission itself recommended changes to membership and so some must drop off.

Now Mr Kilgallon is anticipating more time with his grandchildren.

But, he says with a smile, "this is my third retirement."

Source:

• NZ Catholic
• Image: NZ Catholic

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

Pope Francis announced the Day of Prayer on Monday, following a week-long meeting of the Commission.

The Commission, has a mandate to develop and educate the church about best practice and believes prayer is one part of the healing process for clerical sexual abuse survivors and the community of believers, and that public prayer is an important way of consciousness raising in the Church.

Established in 2014, the Commission suffered a setback earlier this year when one of its members, British abuse survivor Peter Saunders was sidelined after complaining that it was doing nothing to break down a culture of complacency and cover-ups within the Church.

Its emphasis on prayer and education is unlikely to appease critics who say the Church remains reluctant to hand paedophile priests over to the judicial authorities.

The Day of Prayer will complement similar initiatives already announced in various Church regions.

The Commission said it was pushing ahead with educational initiatives — including setting up its own website — designed to raise awareness about the issue of paedophilia in church communities across the globe and to train Church leaders how to handle the issue effectively.

It welcomed Francis's announcement in June that members of the Church hierarchy can now be dismissed from office if they fail to display the diligence required of them in ensuring the protection of children.

Francis has also put in place a legal framework for paedophile clerics to be tried in the Vatican and he has been praised for holding meetings with victims of abuse in Rome and in the United States.

Some critics say his overall record on the issue is patchy and he has come under fire for standing by his finance chief George Pell.

Established in 2014, the Commission suffered a setback earlier this year when one of its members, British abuse survivor Peter Saunders was sidelined after complaining that it was doing nothing to break down a culture of complacency and cover-ups within the Church.
Source

• RawStory
• Image: Catholic Herald UK