Share

Sex abuse survivor leaves Vatican panel

Vatican City - Efforts by Pope Francis to show that he's tough on clerical sex abuse suffered a blow on Saturday after a high-profile abuse survivor took a leave of absence from the pontiff's advisory commission.

Peter Saunders, a British advocate for survivors, had been highly critical of the slow pace of progress by the Vatican in taking measures to protect children and punish bishops who covered up for paedophile priests.

During a meeting of the commission on Saturday, the Vatican said that "it was decided that Mr. Peter Saunders would take a leave of absence from his membership to consider how he might best support the commission's work."

His departure leaves just one other survivor of abuse, Marie Collins, on the commission, which was formed in 2013 to provide the Vatican with advice on protecting children, educating church personnel and parishioners about abuse and keeping paedophiles out of the priesthood.

No information

The commission was slow getting off the ground. But it took a big step last year when it successfully proposed that the Vatican create an in-house tribunal to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect their flocks.

The lack of bishop accountability has prompted years of criticism from abuse victims, advocacy groups and others that the Vatican had failed to punish or forcibly remove bishops who moved predator priests from parish to parish, where they could rape again, rather than report them to police or remove them.

The Vatican has released no information about the progress in the tribunal's work since it announced that the pope had agreed to create it.

The commission in general, and Saunders in particular, had been highly critical of Francis' decision to appoint a Chilean bishop despite allegations from abuse survivors that he had covered up for the country's most notorious paedophile. The bishop denied the charge and Francis stood by the appointment.

The commission has insisted that its mission is not to intervene in individual cases, but to craft policy guidelines for the church.


We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Do you think corruption-accused National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula will survive a motion of no confidence against her?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
No, her days are numbered
42% - 388 votes
Yes, the ANC caucus will protect her
58% - 538 votes
Vote
Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.43
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.2%
Platinum
910.50
+1.5%
Palladium
1,011.50
+1.0%
Gold
2,221.35
+1.2%
Silver
24.87
+0.9%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.8%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.8%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE