In an effort to counter family violence effectively, a new qualification teaching Pacific cultural competence has been launched in New Zealand. Advocacy groups worked together to create the new qualification which will provide important skills to those working with Pacific families. Its importance is in no doubt: in New Zealand. Pacific children are 2.5 times Read more
The Vatican is inviting New Zealanders to give public feedback to The Vatican’s Child Protection Commission on the Church safeguarding principles. Aimed at creating updated diocesan guidelines, the move opens up the consultation process, historically limited to bishops and church leaders, to a broader base of stakeholders. To collect the feedback, the commission has established Read more
Voluntary lifelong detention in church-run houses could be the best way of dealing with priest abusers, says child protection expert, Fr Hans Zollner SJ. Zollner, who is the president of the Centre for Child Protection (CCP) at the Gregorian University says it’s all-important to control and guide sex abusers and “to define exactly what they Read more
Elections in the United States, a global pandemic and human rights protests have crowded the news coverage for most of 2020. But activists and sexual abuse survivors continue to ask that the protection of minors and vulnerable adults in the Catholic Church and elsewhere remain a priority despite losing momentum, as risks of online and Read more
A paternalistic attitude within the Church that devalues laypeople and puts clergy on a pedestal is worse than clericalism says German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner. Zollner is one of the Church’s leading experts in child protection. There are two sides to this problem, Zollner says. One is with “the hierarchy not involving the gifts of Read more
Pope Francis has made it compulsory in law within the Vatican and in Vatican diplomatic missions worldwide to report child sex abuse. Francis, who is both the Vatican head of state and the head of the Church new law, wants the new law to be a model for the church globally. The legal changes reflect Read more
The Vatican summit on the protection of minors has ended and the Church’s future direction is set. In his final address at the Summit, Pope Francis committed the church to do everything possible to eradicate sexual abuse. He said he wants it gone – not just from the church itself but from society as a Read more
A Brazilian archbishop has banned all priests in his archdiocese from being alone with children. Archbishop Manoel Delson signed the ban after the court ordered the archdiocese to pay almost £2.5 million in compensation over the sexual exploitation of minors. Read more
As sexual assault cases against the Archdiocese of Agãna continue to increase, it appears that the Vatican has found itself in trouble with the United Nations. In 2014, the Vatican was summoned to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child committee. It was asked to take concrete steps to remedy decades of institutional Read more
The 19th meeting of the Council of Cardinal Advisers has been held this week. Often called the C9, the Cardinals and Pope Francis have examined several dicasteries of the curia; the protection of minors; the economy, a range of texts Francis has put forward for consideration, and Holy See lay staff and clergy selection and Read more