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A victim of clergy sex abuse, Marie Collins from Ireland, is one of eight appointments by Pope Francis to a new Vatican commission to safeguard children.
Among the members are Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, four laywomen, one Italian professor, and two priests.
The Vatican said the eight would be responsible for determining the commission’s structure, outlining its duties, and putting forward names of other candidates who might join its work.
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was first announced in December.
Several of its newly-appointed members took part in a 2012 summit at the Gregorian University on clergy sexual abuse.
There, Ms Collins detailed her own abuse by a priest when she was 13.
She there must be “acknowledgement and accountability for the harm and destruction that has been done to the life of victims and their families”.
When Ms Collins was 47, she reported the abuse to a parish priest, who refused to take her name or even make a report of the accusation.
She said she then turned to the Archbishop of the Dublin, at the time Cardinal Desmond Connell, with no better results.
“The priest who had sexually assaulted me was protected by his superiors from prosecution,” she said in 2012.
“He was left for months in his parish ministry which included mentoring children preparing for confirmation – the safety of those children ignored by his superiors.”
The current Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin congratulated Ms Collins on her appointment.
He said the “commission will benefit greatly from her commitment to ensuring that the highest standards of child protection will exist in the Catholic Church around the world”.
Archbishop Martin described her as a “person of great integrity and determination”.
He said he is grateful she accepted the appointment, and knew she had experienced frustration and disappointment in her past dealings with the Church.
A Vatican spokesman acknowledged that most of the commission’s new members are European, but said this would make meetings easier.
One of the commission’s tasks will be to suggest new members from other countries and continents.
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News category: World.
