British campaigner Peter Saunders said the idea of the panel was suggested by commission head Cardinal Sean O'Malley.

Mr Saunders was encouraged to resign from the commission after he questioned Pope Francis' commitment to reform.

But Mr Saunders said he is only on a "leave of absence".

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According to an Associated Press report, Peter Saunders said the members of the 17-person Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors asked him to step aside, with one abstention.

This was after the commission reportedly concluded it could no longer trust him to work within the scope of the commission's mandate.

Mr Saunders wanted the commission to intervene immediately in individual cases, rather than just craft long-term policies to fight abuse.

He has also been highly critical of the Vatican's slow progress in taking measures to protect children and punish bishops who covered up for abusers.

On Saturday, Mr Saunders told reporters he was "blindsided" by the Vatican's announcement of his "leave of absence" and said only the Pope could make him leave the commission.

The Vatican had stated that Mr Saunders would take time "to consider how he might best support the commission's work".

Commission head Cardinal Sean O'Malley said in another statement that the group had asked Mr Saunders to advise them on possibly creating a victim/survivor panel to help with their work.

Mr Saunders said the Vatican's inaction in the face of continuing cases of children being raped and molested "made me lose faith in the process and lose faith in Pope Francis".

Last week, Mr Saunders told The Times in London that that he had asked the Pope to appear at a three-day meeting of the commission in Rome to defend his record.

He told the paper: "It will be outrageous if he doesn't attend and I will say so."

Mr Saunders had been especially critical of the Pope's appointment of Chilean Bishop Juan Barros to the Diocese of Osorno.

Bishop Barros was accused of covering up an abusive priest, his mentor Fr Fernando Karadima, and even witnessing abuse.

Bishop Barros denies the allegations.

One of Karadima's victims, Juan Carlos Cruz, joined Mr Saunders on Saturday in Rome in hopes of speaking to the commission, but was refused.

Mr Cruz also hoped to deliver letters to the commission or to Francis from the clergy and people of Osorno.

Sources

• Associated Press
• The Guardian
• National Catholic Reporter
• Daily Mail
• Catholic Herald
• Los Angeles Times
• Crux
• Image: The Guardian

Ms McAleese's revelation that she did this came as Ireland's parliament last week removed the common law defence of "reasonable chastisement" of children.

In an interview, the former Irish president said she raised with the Pope "the Church's support for corporal punishment of children, which is set out in the catechism and which the [UN] Committee on the Rights of the Child regards as a violation of children's rights, under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which the Holy See is a state party".

She said that Pope Francis has set up a working party on corporal punishment under the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

This working party is chaired by UK child abuse survivor Peter Saunders.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states parents must regard their children as children of God and must respect them as human persons (CCC #2222).

But it also cites the passage from Sirach 30-1-2: "He who loves his son will not spare the rod . . . He who disciplines his son will profit by him." (CCC #2223)

This is set alongside St Paul's saying in Ephesians 6:4 "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

In May, the Council of Europe released a statement condemning corporal punishment against children.

This was after Ireland was found to be in violation of a European charter which forbids the practice.

Ms McAleese said she has communicated with Pope Francis "occasionally".

Among the subjects she has raised are problem of youth suicide and self-harm, since the Church provides educational services to a majority of children in Ireland.

She also said she sees her Church as "a major conduit for homophobia which is toxic, a form of hatred that has nothing to do with Christ and is unchristian".

Sources

• Irish Times
• UN Tribune
• Irish Mirror
• Catechism of Catholic Church
• Image: 2GB

Journalist Tara Brown opened the programme on Sunday with an editorial stating Church leaders had alienating victims of abuse by issuing statements supportive of the cardinal.

"The Catholic Church in Australia stands in crisis," Ms Brown declared within the first ten seconds of the programme.

"The men who lead it have put themselves on a collision course with the victims of child sexual abuse by expressing their unfailing support for George Pell."

Last week, the programme interviewed Peter Saunders, a member of the commission that advises the Pope on the protection of children.

Mr Saunders made a number of allegations about Cardinal Pell relating to whether he had knowledge of the actions of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

Cardinal Pell strongly denied the allegations.

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Peter Saunders had previously called on the Pope to sack the cardinal, following accusations that resurfaced at a royal commission hearing in Ballarat.

Cardinal Pell has repeatedly denied claims that he moved a priest accused of abuse between parishes and bribed a victim to drop a complaint.

On Australia's Sixty Minutes programme last weekend, Mr Saunders accused Cardinal Pell of acting with callousness and being "almost sociopathic" in his lack of care.

Mr Saunders accused Cardinal Pell of "making a mockery of the papal commission, of the Pope himself, but most of all of the victims and the survivors".

Cardinal Pell's office issued a statement saying Mr Saunders' "false and misleading claims" were "outrageous", adding that Pell would consult legal advisers.

Mr Saunders later told the Australian Associated Press the pontifical commission he belongs to may not be able to do its job properly due to a lack of resources.

He said "the commission will largely be dictated to some extent by the resources that are made available to it . . . and my understanding is that there is some financial pressure already in this particular area and I'm pretty appalled at that".

Mr Saunders asked: " . . .[W]ho's in charge of funding and resources in the Vatican? You know the answer to that".

Cardinal Pell is prefect of the Vatican's economic secretariat.

Mr Saunders, who is an abuse survivor, also said it was "entirely possible" that Pope Francis didn't fully understand the history in Australia when he appointed Cardinal Pell to his current position.

Earlier, a Vatican spokesman stated Mr Saunders, a British victims' advocate, was speaking in a personal capacity and not as a member of the commission.

Australia's archbishops and several bishops released a statement defending Cardinal Pell as a man of integrity.

Jesuit Fr Frank Brennan, who has clashed with the cardinal in the past, called for fair treatment for him.

The royal commission has requested Cardinal Pell appear at a further hearing in Ballarat later this year, and the cardinal has agreed to do so.

Sources

• News.com
• The Tablet
• Yahoo News
• ABC
• SBS
• CWN
• Image: The Guardian

The Vatican press office stated: "Prior to the recent appointment of His Excellency Msgr Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid as bishop of Osorno, Chile, the Congregation for Bishops carefully examined the prelate's candidature and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment."

Bishop Barros's installation Mass last month was cut short after protests at the cathedral in Osorno.

Chilean clergy sexual abuse survivors accuse Bishop Barros of covering up abuse by Fr Fernando Karadima when Bishop Barros was a priest.

Fr Karadima, a once-renowned spiritual leader, was found guilty by the Vatican in 2011 of sexually abusing minors.

He was ordered to retire to a life of penitence and prayer.

Chilean criminal charges against Fr Karadima were dropped because of technicalities, including the expiry of the statute of limitations time period since the crimes.

Survivors say that as a priest, Bishop Barros not only worked to cover up Fr Karadima's crimes, but witnessed some of them as they happened.

Bishop Barros, who previously served as the head of Chile's diocese for the military, has denied the claims.

He said he "never had knowledge or imagined the serious abuses that this priest [Karadima] committed with his victim".

Five members of the Pontificial Commission for the Protection of Minors have expressed "concern and incredulity" at Bishop Barros's appointment.

Commission member and abuse survivor Marie Collins from Ireland said: "The voice of the survivors is being ignored."

She added that " . . . the safety of children in this diocese is being left in the hands of a bishop about whom there are grave concerns for his commitment to child protection".

Another commission member and abuse survivor, Peter Saunders, has said he might have to quit the commission unless Pope Francis withdraws the Barros appointment.

Both Pope Francis and commission head Cardinal Sean O'Malley have previously pledged that gaps around bishops' accountability on abuse cover ups will be filled.

Sources:

• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Crux
• BBC
• Image: Catholic News Agency

Peter Saunders, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, told The Tablet he would like to see the commission have wider powers.

He would like to see the commission's remit extended so it is able to deal directly with allegations of abuse.

Mr Saunders said he would like to see the commission become "the FBI of the Church staffed by laity so that people can come to me and other members rather than referring them somewhere else".

He added that the "somewhere else" is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which, Mr Saunders maintains, is "not up to the task".

Currently, the 17-member commission, which includes safeguarding experts from across the world, is staffed by just one priest, Fr Robert Oliver.

Its next meeting is not due to take place until October.

Mr Saunders is the outgoing chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood in the United Kingdom.

He was abused by two priests when he was a child.

He said he would be willing to lead the commission office and work closely alongside fellow members.

The commission is headed by Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston.

Mr Saunders also told The Tablet that he has been inundated with messages from survivors who claim they are still ignored when they make complaints to Church leaders in their countries.

The vast majority of bishops' conferences across the world have guidelines on how to respond to abuse allegations.

Last month, Cardinal O'Malley told Crux's John Allen that he hoped to have a "pretty finished product" in terms of a new accountability system on abuse to present to the Pope within two months.

The system would include a tribunal located within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Crux
• BBC
• Vatican Radio
• Image: Third Sector

A member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Marie Collins, said accountability of bishops is her main priority in this role.

The 17 member commission met in Rome over the weekend.

Ms Collins, an abuse survivor from Ireland, hinted the commission might be suggesting to Pope Francis that there be new mechanisms for firing Catholic prelates.

Asked by the National Catholic Reporter about the fact that only the Pope can remove bishops, Ms Collins interrupted the question to say: "Currently, yes."

"All I can say is the commission is working on a means by which bishops can be made accountable," Ms Collins added.

"And if that goes forward . . . there will be an answer to this problem."

The commission's head, Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, said recommendations will go to the Pope about consequences for bishops who don't follow guidelines on preventing and reporting abuse.

The cardinal said the commission has yet to recommend specifically what those repercussions might be.

But he added: "Obviously, there has to be consequences."

Cardinal O'Malley also said the commission has also been tasked with presenting methods for "measuring compliance" of bishops' conferences on the issue.

Ms Collins wants to see action in this area too.

"You can have as many guidelines as you like in place, but if the men that are supposed to be implementing don't implement them, there has to be some sanction or you're wasting your time," she said.

Ms Collins admitted to feeling frustration about how slow the commission's work has been so far.

English abuse survivor and commission member Peter Saunders said he would be leaving the commission in a year or two if it did not achieve some sort of accountability of bishops.

In 2011, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith called on bishops' conferences to develop guidelines on preventing and reporting abuse.

Cardinal O'Malley said that about four per cent, primarily those in mission areas, have yet to do so.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Irish Times
• Image: RTE