Although the US church, like the church in Europe, has structures in place to promote safeguarding to a higher degree than churches with less resources, "there are cultural aspects that need to be taken into account," Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, president of the Pontifical Gregorian University's Institute of Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care, said.

"The more diverse a society is and a local church is, the more it needs to respect the different cultures, languages, habits, mentalities that are represented," he told Catholic News Service June 18 on the sidelines of an international safeguarding conference hosted by the institute.

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"More broadly, the norms adopted by Rome indicate the right direction, but we currently have no mechanism to monitor their implementation."

Zollner, director of the Institute of Anthropology at Rome's Gregorian University, believes the summit Pope Francis called in 2019 to deal with abuse was a major step in the right direction.

The problem is that the rules and procedures the Church adopted after the summit aren't being applied sufficiently or evenly at the local level, he says.

At the universal level, several norms have been established. They apply to the whole church Zollner says.

One is the Vox estis lux mundi (you are the light of the world) motu proprio by Pope Francis.

Promulgated in May 2019, it established new procedural norms that have since been consolidated to combat sexual abuse and ensure that bishops and religious superiors are held accountable for their actions.

It also expects all clerics, and men and women religious, to report to their superiors any sexual and spiritual abuse they become aware of.

Zollner notes the law is not perfect in any institution, and improvements to the current regulations could be made - to canon law, for instance.

He says canonical processes must become more transparent, and procedures and systems must be applied appropriately everywhere.

"If we want new legislation to have a lasting and profound effect, it must be accompanied by a change in attitude" he says.

Transparency needed

Like Zollner, a woman who says she suffered spiritual and sexual abuse by a priest wants the new anti-abuse protocols to be properly implemented and monitored.

Gloria Branciani is demanding transparency from the Vatican and a full accounting of the hierarchs who for 30 years covered for her much-exalted abuser.

Branciani, who was a consecrated member of the Loyola Community, has detailed the alleged abuses of the celebrated Jesuit artist Marko Rupnik.

He had a fondness for three-way sex "in the image of the Trinity" Branciani says.

If this is found to be the case, it could constitute a grave perversion of Catholic doctrine known as false mysticism.

Another former Loyola Community member, Mirjam Kovac, spoke of the "spiritual abuse and abuse of conscience" Rupnik forced upon her.

The two former nuns said they hope now to obtain truth and justice, without any "personal revenge".

Vatican response

The Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) has contacted several institutions to obtain documentation related to Rupnik.

Last October, Pope Francis entrusted the DDF with the task of examining the case after deciding to "waive the statute of limitations to allow the proceedings to take place".

His decision followed PCPM reports last September detailing "serious problems" in the handling of the Rupnik case and "the lack of closeness to the victims".

"After expanding the search ... it will now be necessary to study the acquired documentation in order to identify which procedures can and should be implemented" the Vatican Press Office says.

• La Croix
• AP News
• Vatican News

While the Church has been praised for its efforts in establishing norms to protect individuals from abuse, "we don't have a culture of accountability when it comes to the implementation of those norms," said Jesuit Fr Hans Zollner (pictured), a leading expert in the field.

Certain norms have even been put in place to hold bishops accountable for mishandling abuse allegations. However, the review process often results in varied outcomes. Some bishops are asked to resign, while others face no consequences at all, said Zollner.

"How seriously does the legislator take his own law?" asked Fr Zollner, questioning the seriousness with which Pope Francis, the legislator behind these norms, regards his own laws.

Fr Zollner, the director of the Institute of Anthropology at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, made the remarks during the 2023 International Safeguarding Conference held at the Gregorian University.

More than 200 bishops, safeguarding officers, and specialists from 50 nations gathered to discuss "sustaining organisational accountability" at the conference.

Beatrice Mumbi, safeguarding coordinator for the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar, also addressed the issue of accountability. She expressed the difficulty of ensuring compliance and accountability among the men she works with due to the persistence of patriarchy in her context.

Moreover, Mumbi highlighted the prevalent "culture of silence" surrounding sexual abuse in many African cultures, where discussing such matters is seen as taboo to avoid tarnishing the reputation of leaders.

However, Mumbi noted a gradual change taking place, albeit at a slow pace. Efforts are underway to address accountability, but it continues to pose an ongoing challenge.

Safeguarding a universal problem

Archbishop Paul-André Durocher of Gatineau, Quebec, and Archbishop Simon Poh of Kuching, Malaysia, discussed the challenges faced by church authorities regarding accountability during the conference.

Archbishop Poh revealed that safeguarding programmes in Asia are still in their early stages and emphasised it is a universal problem.

"Maybe seven, eight years ago, the thinking was that this is a Western problem. That was the mentality," the archbishop said. But now people realise "it is not a Western problem; it is a human problem."

Archbishop Durocher highlighted the progress made in Canada over the past three decades. Bishops have shifted their focus from establishing structures to investigate allegations to prioritising the needs of victims and listening to their experiences with compassion and understanding.

"The sexual abuse crisis has deeply hurt that bond of trust between bishops and priests, between laity and clergy, between believers and non-believers," the archbishop said. "It will take a long time to rebuild that trust, probably a few generations. And it will happen only if we continually to make it a priority - if I, as a bishop, make it my priority."

Sources

National Catholic Reporter

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

"I'm going to scandalise you," Father Hans Zollner SJ warned his audience as he started his talk about the clergy sex abuse crisis.

"The Church' does not exist. It is not a monolithic block.

"On the contrary, in the same room, same parish and same diocese you have victims and abusers - responsible people and irresponsible people."

His was the final lecture in a series of conferences themed "CIASE, thinking together about the Church".

Last October, CIASE - the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church - issued a devastating report on decades of clergy sex abuse in France.

Zollner, who besides being a priest is a psychologist, made sure his audience understood how badly Church officials handled cases of abuse in the past.

His aim - to inform so that the same mistakes are never again repeated.

The first cases of sexual abuse emerged 40 years ago, Zollner explained. After a while, complainants appeared from across the globe.

"Now the whole world has heard about the horror of abuse and the failures of the hierarchy in the management of the problem," he said.

"And now questions are being asked about why those in charge reacted the way they did, including the 'untouchables' - bishops, cardinals and the pope himself.

"The same mistake was made, that of not listening to the victims. And the experience of this or that episcopal conference has not been transferred to the others."

Having a single strategy for the Church would be difficult, he acknowledged.

There are 1.4 billion catholics, 24 Churches, 5,300 bishops, 2,900 dioceses and an unknown number of religious congregations.

There are also cultural differences.

"In Africa, in families, villages and tribes, sexuality is taboo. Even moreso when it concerns authority figures such as priests.

"In Asia, saving face is vital for living together. And criticising an authority figure was impossible until recently."

Zollner says there are many paradoxes in the Church.

One is a system of government marked by a "strange tension between authoritarianism and a lack of clear rules, a lack of personal accountability".

The current synodal process must help "us to get out of this back-and-forth between high-and-low.

"The question is above all how we control power. The greater the power one has, the more that person should be held accountable."

"What is the focus of our attention - our institutions and our reputation or the victim, the vulnerable, the other and the Wholly-Other?" he asked.

Another paradox is that the Church seems to invest more in the intellectual formation of its clerics than in their human formation.

Changing norms isn't enough - we need a true conversion that engages spirituality and theology, he said.

"I await the moment when we understand that caring for victims is at the heart of our ministry."

Source

• La Croix

After decades of child sexual abuse scandals the Church is ready to share its successes — and failures — with other religious and lay institutions.

Francis' message was delivered by Michael Hoffman, a clergy child sexual abuse survivor and activist.

Representatives of several world religions, including Catholic, came together recently for an online symposium on preventing and healing child sexual abuse.

It is an evil that can be overcome, they agreed.

The April 8-10 "Faith and Flourishing: Strategies for Preventing and Healing Child Sexual Abuse," symposium was organized by the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University.

Seventy-three 73 speakers from different religious, cultural and professional backgrounds last weekend to address the phenomenon that has touched nearly every major religious group in the world.

One in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys experience sexual abuse at some point during childhood, according to reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most cases take place in the household at the hands of family members.

The symposium also addressed this and the impact of pedophilia in many other sections of society: from schools, to sports, to scouts and religious institutions.

"By listening to those who have been hurt so grievously, we begin to understand much better why it's important for faith communities to step up and acknowledge the harm that has been done in their midst," said Hans Zollner SJ at the symposium.

Zollner is the president of the Center for Child Protection at the Gregorian University in Rome.

"Religions can come together in the fight against sexual abuse of men, women and children," he said.

Zollner is highly respected for his role in addressing the sexual abuse scandals that have crippled the Catholic Church. Among his efforts he helped organise a 2017 conference on "Child Dignity in the Digital World,". This helped shift the perception of the Catholic Church and sexual abuse from being part of the problem to being instrumental to the solution.

Zollner said that "faith communities can in fact have a major impact on the greater community they serve."

Religious communities need to come together and share expertise and experiences, he said.

"This pandemic has shown that there are challenges that are much bigger than any one person, one religion, one country, one profession."

Sheikh Ibrahim Lethome, secretary-general and legal adviser to the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, said that religion is a "very powerful tool" for combating child sexual abuse.

Abbess Dhammananda Bhikkuni of the Buddhist Sanghammakalyani temple in Thailand (pictured) spoke of the importance of "pure listening" when encountering sexual abuse victims.

This is similar to the idea espoused by Francis in his efforts to address the clergy abuse crisis.

The abbess spoke of "listening without the I, listening without judgment," inviting faith leaders to go "into the depth of the pain" with victims and survivors.

She urged faith leaders not to be afraid to "show your tears,".

"Only when you really feel the pain of what they are going through, only then, we as faith leaders can help them," she added, underlining how this is the only way to establish trust, a prerequisite of healing.

Source

• Religion News Service
• Image: Medium

If an organisation is led by a charismatic leader who is followed uncritically and commands or demands control over members, the members are at risk of cases of physical, sexual and psychological abuse, Father Hans Zollner SJ says.

The Vatican office that grants official recognition to international Catholic lay movements and organizations ordered them to develop a set of detailed child-protection guidelines and norms for handling allegations of the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.

As international lay organizations include hundreds of thousands of Catholics, the guidelines are important, Zollner says.

By last December, "90-something percent [of the organisations had] sent in their guidelines," Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, says.

The Dicastery has a juridical section led by a canon lawyer.

It is reviewing the guidelines from the organizations required to file them. The staff of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is helping with the process.

So far, several large international Catholic groups have published their Vatican-approved guidelines online.

These include Communion and Liberation, Focolare and Chemin Neuf.

The guidelines promise safe-environment training for members, contain detailed rules for activities with minors and clearly outline the responsibility of a person who is told about or suspects a case of abuse.

In most cases, this includes reporting allegations to local police.

Victims always are also free to report allegations to their local police and local bishops, Farrell said.

Members of one of the groups who want to work in a parish or diocesan programme must also meet local requirements for safeguarding training and background checks.

All laity-heavy Catholic movements and organisations that want official recognition as "international associations of the faithful" will have to include safeguarding and reporting guidelines when they apply for Vatican recognition, Farrell said.

In recent years - under Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, several small, newer communities — both religious orders and mixed groups of lay and religious — have been disbanded or placed under Vatican-mandated outside control because of sexual, physical or psychological abuse of members.

Farrell said in retrospect many of these groups "were approved at too young an age". They lacked maturity, experience in governance and oversight.

Today, for both lay and religious communities, the Vatican would "examine much more carefully the constitutions and the bylaws," he said.

In addition, "they would have to have all these policies in place" for preventing abuse.

Source

• Catholic News Service
• Image: Catholics & Cultures

Zollner, who is a leading expert in child protection and one of the chief organisers of February's summit on child protection, says the Church's responsibility to obey the laws of the land was clarified several years ago.

He says in 2011 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith told every bishops' conference that the Church must obey civil laws regarding cases of abuse.

"So, if a state - in a durably democratic, regulated and legitimate situation - arrives at the conclusion that a representative of the Church, whether a deacon, priest, bishop or cardinal has committed a crime, this must not only be respected, it must be accepted.

"This must be the norm of the Church."

Zollner says since the February summit several bishops' conferences have already have revised or begun revising their guidelines for protecting children and handling abuse allegations.

In doing so, some have revised their guidelines to find and implement ways of "cooperating with Civil Authorities".

Zollner says many Conference presidents were reduced to tears when they heard testimonies of survivors of child sexual abuse at the summit and some are seeking the help of the Centre for Child Protection in the formation of Church personnel on the ground.

In addition, projects promised by the Vatican will soon be bearing fruit, he says.

One such project involves promulgation of guidelines for the Vatican City State.

Another is a "vademecum" or handbook the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been developing. It will explain in a step-by-step process, how bishops and religious superiors should handle abuse allegations. It will also include advice as to how they should prepare the relevant documents for the doctrinal congregation when an accusation is found to be credible.

There is no longer any question of people being protected because of their status in the Church.

The guilty verdicts against Cardinals George Pell and Philippe Barbarin demonstrate that church officials, including cardinals, are "no longer untouchable" and that governments will apply the law to them as well, Zollner says.

Pell is maintaining his innocence and is appealing his conviction.

Source

• Crux Now
• Vatican News
• Image: Wikipedia