Others hold him in high esteem.

Neither of these groups will have their minds changed about Cardinal Pell, ­regardless of what any court might determine.

The majority of Australians fall into neither camp.

Victorian Police

In the midst of controversy and with allegations of gross criminal activity, these Australians expect the police, the prosecution authorities and the courts to do their work diligently, imposing punishment on proven criminals and protecting the rights and liberties of all other citizens.

The Pell saga has now run for more than four years, ever since the Victoria Police commenced an operation on Christmas Eve 2015 seeking evidence of any wrongdoing by Pell around his cathedral during the years 1996-2001, when he was archbishop of Melbourne.

One complainant

This extraordinary trawling exercise turned up only one complainant, whose allegations were taken all the way to trial.

The complainant gave evidence that he and his now-deceased companion were serially assaulted sexually by Pell in the priests' sacristy immediately after solemn Sunday mass in St Patrick's Cathedral in late 1996.

He also gave evidence that Pell assaulted him in the sacristy corridor after another mass a couple of months later.

That's the case the High Court has just thrown out.

Thus the anger and relief at Tuesday's decision.

Court unanimous and with one voice

The High Court has spoken definitively, unanimously and with one voice.

All seven Justices have agreed that in relation to all five charges, "there is a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted".

The court ­ordered that Pell's "convictions be quashed and judgments of acquittal be entered in their place".

Pell has rightly walked free in time for Easter.

The complainant is left to get on with his life as best he can, wondering what was the point of this protracted legal trauma.

The court accepted that the jury had assessed the complainant's evidence "as thoroughly credible and reliable".

In the Victorian Court of Appeal, that step was enough for two of the judges to uphold the convictions.

But the dissenting judge, Mark Weinberg, Australia's most experienced criminal appeal court judge, thought that was just the first step of a court's inquiry, and not the last.

All seven High Court judges agree.

Reasonable doubt

The court needed to examine the record of all the evidence in the case "to see whether, notwithstanding that assessment, the court is satisfied that the jury, acting rationally, ought nonetheless to have entertained a reasonable doubt as to proof of guilt".

The court unanimously decided that any jury acting rationally must have had a reasonable doubt.

In addition to the complainant, there were many other witnesses called by the prosecution in Pell's case.

They included 23 witnesses "who were involved in the conduct of solemn mass at the cathedral or who were members of the choir in 1996 and/or 1997".

Many of these witnesses were also thoroughly credible and reliable, though their reliability faltered at times given that they were trying to recall what they would have been doing after mass in St Patrick's Cathedral on a particular Sunday 22 years before.

The honesty of these witnesses was not questioned by the prosecution.

The High Court found that many of these witnesses had given consistent evidence that placed Pell on the steps of the cathedral for at least 10 minutes after mass on December 15 and 22, 1996, the only possible dates when the first four offences could have been committed.

The prosecution "conceded that the offences alleged in the first incident could not have been committed if, following mass, (Pell) had stood on the cathedral steps greeting congregants for 10 minutes".

The court also found that there was unquestioned evidence by honest witnesses that placed Pell in company with his Master of Ceremonies when he returned to the priests' sacristy to disrobe.

Furthermore, there was abundant evidence of "continuous traffic into and out of the priests' sacristy for 10 to 15 minutes" after the altar servers returned to the sacristy at the end of the procession at the conclusion of mass.

There was no five-to-six-minute hiatus for the offences to occur with Pell, the complainant and his companion in the sacristy alone, together and uninterrupted, straight after mass.

A tragedy

The tragedy of this case for everyone, including victims and complainants (and most especially this complainant), is that an ordinary police investigation would have highlighted these problems with the complainant's account.

When interviewed in Rome back in October 2016 by Victorian police officers who were being supervised by their Deputy Commissioner, Shane Patton, Pell told the police that the sacristy was "a hive of activity" after mass with altar servers, sacristan, assistant sacristan, money collectors and any concelebrating priests coming and going.

He said he would have been accompanied at all relevant times by his MC Charles Portelli.

The police returned to Australia and interviewed Portelli and the sacristan, Max Potter, who basically confirmed all Pell had said about the "hive of activity".

But police did not bother to interview one single altar server.

They made no inquiries about money collectors or concelebrating priests.

They just went ahead and charged Pell, and with great media fanfare.

They went ahead building a case on the idea the priests' sacristy might have been left ­vacant and open on this one particular day, contrary to all church routine and ritual.

The High Court rightly observed that "adherence to ritual and compliance with ­established liturgical practice is a defining feature of religious observance".

The farce of the case was the ­belated attempt by the Director of Public Prosecutions to create the space for the necessary hiatus.

At trial, the prosecutor suggested, contrary to the evidence, the altar servers might have adjourned to another room, for no reason, for five to six minutes before being called back to the priests' sacristy to resume their duties.

He had to withdraw that suggestion before the jury.

In the High Court, the DPP submitted once again that the servers might have adjourned to another room or to the sanctuary to assist the sacristan.

The High Court dealt with this suggestion kindly but firmly: "The submission comes close to repeating the submission which the prosecutor withdrew at the trial.

"There was no evidence that the altar servers went to their room to disrobe prior to returning to the sanctuary in order to assist in clearing away the sacred vessels and other objects."

In the end, there was just not the evidence to support the complainant's account.

There never was.

For the good of all victims and complainants, Victoria's DPP and police must review procedures for cases like this.

Those who neither canonise nor despise George Pell should be grateful the High Court has delivered justice according to law in this protracted saga.

• Frank Brennan is a Jesuit priest and lawyer who attended some of the Pell court proceedings. This article was first published in The Australian newspaper.

The State government rejected 22 of the inquiry's 33 recommendations, which included allowing the names of known child abusers to be published prominently on church websites.

Just 11 of the 33 inquiry committee's recommendations were accepted by the government or accepted in principle.

Another 14 are being examined further; eight were rejected.

Two recommendations relating to permanent stays were rejected.

These occur when the court halts child abuse proceedings because it considers there is no possibility of a fair trial due to the passage of time, deterioration of evidence or death of the accused.

The inquiry recommended permanent stay applications be allowed only after the end of the trial and that any permanent stays granted against child sexual abuse claims prior to that judgement should be reconsidered.

But it "would result in a court hearing a trial that was necessarily unfair or an abuse of process and could be constitutionally invalid" the government decided.

Abuse survivors lash out

Terry Martino (pictured), an advocate from the group Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA), is furious at the government's response - and that the SOCA discovered the report had been tabled in the House only after a call from ABC News.

"Survivors bared their souls at the inquiry, they shared the most intimate details of their abuse and the impact it's had on their lives" he said.

"To find out that information was then used to form a report that was then, in large part and in many cases, rejected by the government, it's actually quite cruel.

"It's appalling conduct.

"The report opens with the government stating that they acknowledge the strength of survivors. These are meaningless words that infuriate survivors."

Vigilante fears

Although it would not permit institutions to name abusers on their websites, the government did have recommendations about what might be put there.

It said institutions should adopt the inquiry's recommendations that their websites include policy statements about child safety as well as information about how to report child sexual abuse.

There are significant risks in creating a public register of abusers said the government report tabling its decision. These include defamation actions and breaches of confidentiality provisions in existing legislation.

The WA government said international experience with similar registers suggested public websites could lead to vigilante action against child sex offenders and others who were wrongfully accused.

"If [the names of] known perpetrators are released, it will make it much easier for survivors to come forward and share their experiences, because they'll realise they're not the only ones" Martino argued.

On the cards

The government is considering a recommendation that it fund a new role for a Commissioner for Victims of Crime.

It will also - as recommended - determine if there are any gaps in support and advice to survivors and how these might be addressed.

In addition, it will consider further a recommendation to expand victims' access to the National Redress Scheme.

Source

• ABC

Felix Fremlin, abused by two New Zealand Marist brothers while attending Primary School in Suva, says the apology should extend beyond New Zealand victims.

Fremlin was just seven years old when the abuse began in 1979.

Fremlin said he faced disbelief and was beaten by his father when he reported the abuse.

"It was hard at that time to say something against those in religious positions. No one is going to believe you because everyone treated them like God themselves" Fremlin told RNZ.

Fremlin said that when he was a teenager, he was also abused by other overseas priests, once when he was walking past the church on his way home.

He told RNZ they pulled up in a yellow van, asked him to sit inside, offered him alcohol then molested him.

Brothers acknowledge failures

The Marist Brothers in New Zealand have expressed regret over the abuse suffered by children under their care.

A spokesperson for the New Zealand branch of the Brothers encourages anyone with concerns or complaints to raise them with the Church and the Police in the relevant jurisdiction where the abuse occurred.

They acknowledge that the Brothers have worked in the Pacific Islands for a considerable time.

RNZ has obtained a written apology from Brother John Hazleman, leader of the Marist Brothers in New Zealand and the Pacific. The letter acknowledges and apologises for Fremlin's abuse.

Fremlin received $15,000 in compensation from the Church.

Calls for inclusion of Pacific survivors

Fremlin's plea comes as New Zealand's Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care calls on Pope Francis to issue a public apology to abuse survivors in New Zealand.

Fremlin insists that Pacific victims should also be included in this apology.

"It's the very institution that did this to us. And since he (the Pope) is in charge, he's partially responsible because it's been their policy of cover-up" Fremlin said.

Head of Fiji Catholic Church apologises

In 2020 the Archbishop of Fiji, Peter Loy Chong, said the behaviour of some clergy had brought shame to the church.

"On behalf of the Catholic Church in Fiji I express our remorse for the past failures and extend our sincere regret and deep sympathy to peoples-victims of sexual abuse. The Church apologises unreservedly for abuse perpetrated by clergy or religious teachers" Chong told the Fiji Sun.

"On behalf of the Catholic Church I apologise to victims of abuse, to their families and to Fijian society - for the hurts inflicted on them by some of our priests, brothers and lay workers" he said.

"For the Church and for the Archdiocese of Suva, prevention, justice and healing for victims of sexual abuse always come first."

Source

• RNZ

Just last week the coalition was being praised for agreeing to cover travel costs for survivors heading to the apology in Wellington, after RNZ revealed in July many had to cover their own costs to see the Royal Commission of Inquiry report tabled in Parliament.

But only 180 people would be able to witness it in person in Parliament on November 12 and just over 1500 would be able to watch it on screen at official events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Cotinue reading

However, the issue is expected to receive considerable attention in the coming days, as Pope Francis arrived this Monday, September 9, in East Timor, the third stage of his major Asian tour.

The 87-year-old pope will visit Dili, the capital of this island nation located between Indonesia and Australia, until the following Wednesday, before heading to Singapore, the final destination of what marks the longest journey of his papacy.

At the heart of these painful cases is notably the one of Bishop Carlos Belo, a hero in the fight for independence who has been accused of sexually abusing underage boys for about 20 years and was secretly sanctioned by the Vatican in 2020.

Bishop Belo had received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his central role in defending human rights in the country, which became independent in 2002 after over four centuries of Portuguese colonization and twenty-five years of Indonesian occupation.

In 2022, a shocking investigation by a Dutch weekly accused him—supported by testimonies—of abusing and raping young teenagers in the 1980s and 1990s and buying their silence, which forced the Vatican to make public the sanctions it had imposed on the bishop two years earlier.

La Croix conducted an on-site investigation in 2023, revealing the difficulty of breaking the silence surrounding the victims of sexual abuse in this fledgling democracy.

Prison visit

Bishop Belo, now 76, and highly respected by the people of East Timor, resigned from his duties in 2002 citing health reasons and now lives in Portugal.

Despite the serious accusations, he still enjoys broad support among the country's 1.3 million inhabitants, 98% of whom are Catholic.

"We feel like we've lost him. We miss him," said Maria Dadi, president of the East Timor National Youth Council, to Agence France-Presse (AFP), emphasising that "he truly contributed to the fight for East Timor."

In another case, an American priest, Richard Daschbach, was defrocked and found guilty in 2021 of sexually abusing young orphaned and underprivileged girls.

Despite being sentenced to twelve years in prison, he continues to receive support from the upper echelons of society.

In 2023, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao sparked controversy by visiting Daschbach in prison to celebrate his birthday and share a cake with him.

The official papal itinerary does not include any meetings with victims, and the Vatican has not commented on the matter.

However, Francis, who has pledged "zero tolerance" for this scourge since his election in 2013, may address the issue in one of his speeches, which would be considered a strong gesture, or privately meet with victims.

Erased mural

For victim associations in other countries, as they told AFP, the pope must "acknowledge the sexual abuses committed by Church officials" against East Timorese children.

"Those abused by Bishop Belo and other clergy in East Timor will expect a public statement from the pope about the Church's ongoing failure to deal with its problematic clergy," said Tony Gribben, founder of the Dromore Survivors group based in Northern Ireland.

According to Gribben, a meeting would have "limited value" for victims, akin to the apologies offered by Francis during his visit to Ireland in 2018.

"That event was a well-crafted public relations exercise for the Church. But since then, things continue as usual in the Irish Catholic Church," he said.

The U.S. group Bishop Accountability, which documents the Church's abuse crisis, announced that it had written a letter to an influential cardinal asking him to "intervene on behalf of the abandoned Timorese victims" with the pope.

However, for many locals, the issue is not a central one, and many even hoped to see Belo allowed to return to attend the papal visit.

"As a people, we are very saddened by Bishop Belo's absence," said Francisco Amaral da Silva, a 58-year-old academic.

"The government and the Catholic Church should invite him."

Nevertheless, in Dili, there is a palpable discomfort over the idea that his name might be associated with this highly anticipated visit.

Earlier this month, a mural depicting Bishop Belo was painted on a wall beneath a sign welcoming Pope Francis. A few days later, it was erased.

• First published in La Croix International. Republished with permission.

Adams had commented earlier in response to a letter to the editor published in the Manawatu Standard by Dr Christopher Longhurst, leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Puzzling response

Adams says he remains puzzled by Longhurst's unwillingness to accept and recognise a culture change in the Church he works for.

He acknowledges Longhurst's work in the area of sexual abuse by priests.

"I acknowledge the work of survivors and their advocates has been critical in bringing to light the scourge of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and in our wider society", writes Adams.

"As the Roman Catholic Bishop of Palmerston North, I remain convinced the Church has made significant strides in her efforts over recent times to make the Catholic Church a safe place for children and vulnerable adults, but with no room for complacency or a sense that a job has been completed.

"Our culture has changed, and it must continue to change."

Adams went on to express his trust in the work of police investigators and the Church's National Office for Professional Standards.

Zero appetite

In his letter, Longhurst said that Adams' earlier assurances that there is "Zero appetite for a culture of abuse in the Catholic Church" do not ring true.

He says that Adams' July 30 claim that, if an accusation were made against a Church member, that Church member would be stood down is not true.

Longhurst says he has a complaint against a priest that is under investigation, but that the priest is still in active ministry in the Palmerston North Diocese.

Christopher Longhurst

He says the situation is compounded by the refusal of Adams' professional standards office to allow the investigations into that complaint to proceed.

He also claims that an unnamed priest in an allegation made by Steven Carvell was never stood down when the allegation was made and that, even in retirement, that priest remains in ministry while the Church investigations continue.

Source

• Manawatu Standard

It's been prevalent in the Catholic Church, in other churches and within wider society, he says.

Tomb's view is shared by Dr Rocio Figueroa, a theological researcher at the Te Kupenga Catholic Leadership Institute whose focus is pastoral response for survivors of Church abuse.

Figueroa says the Church, in the wake of damning findings about a lack of accountability for both State and Church care, is moving to take more accountability.

Figueroa's research focuses on pastoral responses for Church abuse survivors. She believes the Church is doing its best to respond to victims and deal with abusers.

While she said there was always more that could be done, she was "grateful and happy there is now more accountability. The Bishops are doing the work they need to" she says.

Tombs makes the point that "Policies and procedures have improved significantly in recent years, and Pope Francis and other Catholic leaders have often spoken out on the urgent need to address the abuse crisis and the damage it has caused".

"In the past, the focus of the Church has been to protect its institutional reputation. This has often come at great cost to survivors who have been disbelieved and even blamed when reporting abuses.

"The Catholic Church has sought to be more survivor-centred in its response to abuse disclosures, but a lot of trust has been eroded and will be hard to re-build" he says.

"The problem is not limited to the Catholic Church—abuses have been prevalent in other churches and within wider society—but serious failings in the Catholic Church have often been in the spotlight in media coverage" he said.

Tombs described the Church's response time to sexual abuse as being "painfully slow".

Priest defrocked

Tombs and Figueroa's comments come amidst the defrocking of a priest in New Zealand.

The priest was defrocked by Pope Francis following complaints of an alleged rape by a priest and after all the priest's Church appeals were exhausted.

The alleged rape occurred during a house blessing at the home of the complainant.

"When a priest commits grave crimes, for example abuse of a minor, a sexual solicitation under the sacrament, all these crimes are reasons that can make a priest be dismissed" says Figueroa.

This is just the third defrocking in New Zealand she notes.

The alleged rapist, his victim and the bishop

Defrocking the priest who allegedly raped a Hamilton woman was all very well but it took a long time, says a woman whom the Waikato Times calls Cathy to protect her identity.

But defrocking a priest is "basically our capital punishment" explains Bishop of Hamilton Richard Laurenson.

"As rare as a hanging would be on one level."

However Cathy told the Waikato Times she remained unhappy at the Church's delay in moving against the priest and said she feared "he will do it to someone else".

The Waikato Times understands the man still resides in New Zealand, and complaints about his behaviour date back at least 15 years.

Police job now

"It is now up to the police to take matters any further should they feel they can" Laurenson told Cathy.

Police say they cannot comment on the case.

Source

• Waikato Times

Recently attentive observers noted a curiosity - the face of the artist himself, along with two of his closest friends and allies, appears in an obscure section of perhaps his most famous work.

Rupnik's mosaic

Rupnik's giant mosaic in the Vatican's Redemptoris Mater Chapel, sometimes dubbed the "Sistine Chapel" of the late Pope John Paul II, according to an inscription above the door, was installed by the Rupnik-founded, Rome-based Centro Aletti in 1999.

It blends eastern and western motifs in depicting the history of salvation.

Rupnik, 69, whose famed murals adorn chapels and cathedrals around the world, including inside the Vatican and at the Marian shrine of Lourdes, is accused of sexually abusing at least 30 adult women.

Many of his alleged victims are nuns belonging to the Loyola Community he helped found in his native Slovenia in the 1980s.

In a small corner of the sprawling work, three figures are depicted in white robes.

Upon examination, some say they bear striking resemblances to real people.

One was the late Czech Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík, Rupnik's great patron, shown holding a set of books.

Another was Nataša Govekar, a member of the Centro Aletti, who today serves as a department head in the Vatican's Dicastery for Communications, depicted with a laptop.

The third was Rupnik himself, holding a painter's easel.

However jarring the images may seem now, Rome-based art historian Elizabeth Lev says they might actually be the least odd element of the entire Rupnik saga.

"Portraits of artists and patrons in works are very normal," Lev told Crux, citing several examples.

Among them were Raphael painting himself into a mural in the Apostolic Palace along with Pope Julius and an advisor, Caravaggio peeking in from the "Martyrdom of Matthew,".

That painting also shows Ghirlandaio routinely depicting friends and family, and the famous Arena Chapel in Padua where Giotto painted both Dante and Enrico degli Scrovegni, the patron of the work, into his fresco cycle.

(Lev believes the Giotto fresco may have been the inspiration for Rupnik's work in the Redemptoris Mater.)

"Nothing unusual about it," Lev said of artists injecting such personal flourishes into their scenes.

On the other hand, Lev said there's a great deal unusual about the broader debate over the removal of Rupnik's artworks which his abuse scandals have kindled - and insists that, contrary to popular opinion, things aren't nearly as straight-forward as they may seem.

Art and history

Calling the distinction between art and artist "complicated," Lev noted that several prominent artists whose work is featured in the Vatican and beyond have their own nefarious histories.

"Raphael was a notorious womaniser, how he seduced women is not known, but that he did is well documented," she said.

Caravaggio himself was known for his drunken antics and at one point killed a man in a violent duel, she noted.

Famed French artist Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was described by Lev as a "sex tourist,".

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, whose masterpiece canopy adorning the main altar in St. Peter's Basilica is currently being restored ahead of the upcoming Jubilee of Hope in 2025, was an adulterer, at the time a capital offense, who at one point "slashed his mistresses face."

Likewise, Lev said that Italian artist Carlo Crivelli served time for seducing a married woman,

Then there was Italian painter Agostino Tassi a century later. He was convicted for the rape of fellow artist Artemisia Gentileschi.

Another was Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, who apparently killed four men.

Accountability absent

Lev voiced her belief that the core of the problem with Rupnik is that he "seems to have had no accountability for his crimes."

"His crimes don't seem to have been acknowledged by the Church writ large," she said.

She laments the growing impression that Rupnik was protected by higher-ups and continued to be promoted even after allegations were lodged "as if nothing had happened."

The appearance of Rupnik's artwork on missalettes and other Vatican materials, she said, "makes a mockery of the entire ‘closeness to victims' narrative - so as the Romans once did, instead of damning the man, at least one can damn his legacy."

However, she said the situation is more nuanced than that, and flagged several considerations that as a historian she believes ought to be part of the broader debate.

Lev noted that Rupnik's larger projects were not completed alone, but with the help of many well-intended believing members of the Aletti Center.

"Should they be punished too? This was their time and their effort making works they thought were evangelizing - or are we saying they are all complicit?" she said.

She also noted that, in Rome and beyond, Rupnik for decades was "lionised" by the Catholic community, including many of her peers, who appeared dazzled by his works and who would go to lengths to show off any mosaics they had.

"Now those people who thought he was God's gift to art want to dump him? How were they such blind patrons?" she asked.

"If we don't leave the works this question will never be asked, which I consider a problem."

Lev compared "cancelling" Rupnik to destroying Caravaggio masterpieces once news of the murder and of his gambling and promiscuity came to light.

Centuries later, "we can look at his struggle between light and dark and learn from it," she said.

She wonders about Rupnik, asking "is there nothing we can learn from thinking about why he was so popular for so many years?" Read more

• Elise Ann Allen works as a Senior Correspondent for Crux in Rome, covering the Vatican and the global Church.

Abuse and sexuality are taboo topics in Africa and women religious were reluctant to speak about their experiences, even in a safe environment with one of their own.

Women religious and priests

Sister Mary Lembo from Togo says she had to work for several years to convince religious women from Africa to talk to her about abuse priests inflicted upon them.

She eventually conducted interviews with nine affected women from five sub-Saharan African countries for a study she was undertaking.

For her own protection she did not name the countries where she worked.

Her subsequent dissertation "Sexual Abuse of Women Religious in Africa" was recently published in German.

"Abuse is a reality" Lembo says.

She explains that women religious are in close contact with priests.

They trust them and seek advice and help, which can lead to "asymmetrical relationships".

There is a certain naivety, Lembo said, adding that women in religious orders sometimes have the idea that a priest cannot hurt them.

Social taboo

Sexuality is still a social taboo in Africa.

Lembo says that is why to date the Church has hardly addressed the sex abuse problem in Africa.

She says she has also found nuns show little understanding of their abused sisters.

The abused women religious told her they were afraid and did not want to damage the Church's image.

To better protect women religious in future, Lembo wants the Church to introduce training programmes and preventative measures.

The Catholic aid organisation Missio, based in Aachen, Germany, is organising projects of this sort in African and Asian countries.

At Lembo's book launch, Missio President Dirk Bingener said abuse of women religious is systemic.

The case studies she highlighted are not isolated incidents, he said.

Source

• katholisch.de

After reviewing the complaint dated back to the 1970s, the Vatican decided no further Church inquiry was required.

The Vatican's finding is similar to that of the New Zealand Police, which concluded earlier this year that Cardinal John Dew had no case to answer.

When the story broke in the media in March, Dew responded personally - "No doubt many of you have been dismayed at the many instances in which I have had to decline to participate in baptisms, weddings, funerals and Diocesan events."

He said he was acutely aware of how distressing the allegations have been - and are - for many people: survivors who have put their trust in him, the church community, his family and friends.

"Throughout my life as a priest, I have endeavoured to serve the Church and uphold the Gospels with all of my ability" Dew emphasised.

Vatican finding confirmed

The Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop, Paul Martin, confirmed the Vatican finding.

"Cardinal John Dew can now resume public activities that he stood aside from under Church protocols when the allegation was brought to the attention of the Church in May last year" Martin said.

Dew retired as Archbishop of Wellington in May last year when he turned 75 - the retirement age for Catholic Church bishops.

"The Church became aware of an allegation of abuse being made against Cardinal Dew at about the same time as his retirement" Martin said.

"Cardinal Dew immediately stood aside from all public church activities while the Police investigated the allegations.

"When the Police advised in March that no charges would be laid, Cardinal Dew continued to stand aside while a separate Vatican review proceeded, using the Church's international procedures for complaints against bishops.

"With the Church's review complete and no further action proposed, Cardinal Dew can resume public Church activities.

Pastoral support

"This has been a distressing experience and painful for everyone concerned" Martin said.

"The Church has an ongoing pastoral responsibility to offer support to all those involved and continues to do so.

"This includes the complainant to whom the Church has continued to offer support."

Source

• Supplied - NZ Catholic Bishops Conference
• CathNews

And when it comes to faith groups, no creed, structure, value system or size has seemed immune.

Get out of denial mode

"We've got to stop saying that could never happen in my church, or my pastor would never do that," said David Pooler. He's a professor of social work at Baylor University who researches clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse of adults.

With more victims coming forward and more research done on abuse within religious contexts, the evidence has shown that when sexual abuse happens in a place designated not only safe, but holy, it's a unique form of betrayal.

Furthermore, when the perpetrator is a clergy member or spiritual leader, the abuse can be seen as God-endorsed.

Get into the best safeguarding mode

As the scope of the abuse crisis has been revealed, houses of worship and religious institutions focus is on protecting people from abuse.

From Southern Baptists to Orthodox Jews to American atheists — the have looked to shore up their safeguarding protocols and protect their constituents against abuse.

But rather than scrambling to respond in the wake of a crisis, faith groups need to adopt policies tailored to their setting and connected to their mission, says Kathleen McChesney.

She was the first executive director of the Office of Child Protection for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"When you do that, people will have a greater understanding of what you're doing, why you're doing it, and how you're doing it," she said.

McChesney is one of a growing group of abuse experts and survivor advocates consulting with religious institutions.

How to help

As Sexual Assault Awareness Month comes to a close, there are a few steps these experts say every faith group can take to improve safeguarding protocols.

Accept it can happen anywhere

One of the most dangerous — and common — assumptions religious groups make is to think of sexual abuse as a "them" problem.

As the founder of international nonprofit Freely in Hope, Nikole Lim has worked for years to combat sexual violence in Kenya and Zambia, and more recently has been helping U.S.-based groups prevent sexual abuse locally.

For Lim, the reality that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men worldwide are survivors of sexual abuse is evidence this is a problem that permeates every level of society.

"That's a global statistic that doesn't only exist in poor communities," said Lim. "That also exists within your family, within your congregations."

Experts agree that faith groups often embrace the myth that good intentions, theology and ethics can stop sexual abuse from landing on their doorstep.

Amy Langenberg, a professor of religious studies at Eckerd College, along with her research partner Ann Gleig, a religious and cultural studies scholar at the University of Central Florida, say this doesn't work.

They have shown that Buddhist ethics about doing no harm and showing compassion are insufficient to prevent abuse in Buddhist contexts.

"You really do need these other ways of thinking about ethics, which are coming from outside of Buddhism, and which are coming usually from feminism, from advocacy, from the law," said Langenberg.

Because faith communities often think of themselves as the "good guys," they're vulnerable to blind spots.

That's why conducting a risk assessment, much like you'd do for fire insurance, can help pinpoint what protocols are most needed, according to McChesney.

She now leads a firm that consults on employee misconduct investigations and policy development.

Once concrete anti-abuse measures are in place, ongoing education can remind people at all levels of the organization to remain vigilant.

Define abuse

Faith groups often struggle to respond effectively to sexual misconduct because they lack consensus on what "counts" as abusive.

Gleig, who is teaming up with Langenberg on a book-length study called "Abuse, Sex, and the Sangha," told Religion News Service that in Buddhist contexts, the category of abuse is often contested.

In some cases, Gleig said, "abuse can be framed as a Buddhist teaching — for example, that this wasn't abuse, it was actually some kind of skillful form of pedagogy."

In churches, Lim has found that loose definitions of abuse can lead to a form of "spiritual bypassing," where abuse is framed as a mistake to be prayed about, rather than an act of harm that requires tangible accountability.

Conversations about sexual abuse in religious settings are often framed around clergy abuse of children.

But faith groups must also account for peer-on-peer violence among children and teens, as well as abuse of adults.

Key to preventing such abuse, Pooler said, is having a robust definition of sexual abuse that goes beyond mere legal metrics and includes things such as sexual conversations, nonconsensual touch and sexual jokes and language.

Recognise power dynamics

The unequal power dynamics inherent to religious settings are an enormous barrier to equitably addressing sexual abuse.

But the law is beginning to account for this imbalance.

In at least 13 states and the District of Columbia, it's illegal for clergy to engage in sexual behavior with someone in their spiritual care.

Many experts believe this standard, which is widely embraced when it comes to doctors and therapists, should be universal in religious settings, too.

According to Pooler, religious groups should work to share power among multiple leaders and ensure that the broader community has decision-making authority.

And when sexual abuse allegations involve a religious leader, "the person should be placed on some type of leave where they are no longer influencing or speaking," said Pooler.

He explains this is "because what I have seen is abusive people will try and grab ahold of the microphone and shape a narrative immediately."

Center survivors

When a survivor shares abuse allegations, faith groups often fear what will happen if they take the report seriously.

For example, Navila Rashid, director of training and survivor advocacy for Heart, a group that equips Muslims to nurture sexual health and confront sexual violence, said Muslim communities can be hesitant to address sexual violence.

He says that's because they don't want to add to existing Islamophobic narratives about the violence of Islam.

But Rashid told RNS it's vital to believe survivors. "If we can't start off from that premise, then doing and creating preventative tools and methods is not going to actually work," she said.

Pooler advises groups to make sure survivors "sit at the steering wheel" of how the response is handled.

If and when personal details about the survivor are shared, for example, should be entirely up to them.

Caring for abuse survivors requires taking their needs seriously at every juncture, even before abuse is reported, according to Pooler and other experts. That's why background checks are vital.

"You don't want to put somebody that has abused a minor ever in a role of supervising minors," McChesney told RNS.

Get outside help

Faith communities are known for being close-knit, which makes avoiding conflicts of interest difficult, if not impossible, when it comes to holding offenders accountable.

That's why many experts recommend hiring outside groups to hold trainings, develop protocols and steer abuse investigations.

"They don't have any investment in the church looking good or their leaders looking good," Pooler said.

He was referring to hiring groups such as GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) or other third-party organisations that investigate abuse allegations.

These organisations, he said, are committed to laying out the facts so faith groups can make informed decisions.

Groups that are trauma-informed can also ensure that gathering testimony from survivors doesn't cause additional harm

Rashid recommended that faith communities create a budget line for hiring outside groups who focus on addressing sexual abuse.

Rather than offering quick fixes, she said, such groups are designed to help faith communities unlearn biases, recognise power dynamics and adopt long-term solutions at individual, communal and institutional levels that prioritise the safety of all community members.

"What we want to see with policies is pushing for a culture shift," she said, "not a Band-Aid fix."

• First published by Religion News service
• Kathryn Post is an author at Religion News Service.

At their plenary assembly on September 25, 2018, the German Catholic bishops published a study documenting cases of abuse between 1946 and 2014.

At the end of 2020, the Protestant Church of Germany began research on sexual abuse in their Churches.

On January 25, 2024, this study was made public.

Similarities

What these two studies have in common is the role that clericalism plays in sexual abuse in Christian communities, local churches, religious congregations, and organisations.

In the area of sexual abuse, it is clear that listening to the testimony of those whom clergy have abused, religious and lay leaders, is central because their testimonies reveal general patterns of abuse related to psycho-sexual and psycho-social dysfunctions, most of which are related to a clericalist mindset.

Although these studies show a difference between the denominations regarding celibacy's impact on abuse, they show a substantial similarity regarding clericalism.

Abuse patterns in Protestant congregations generally include enforced discussions about sexuality and the unfulfilled sexual desires of pastors in their own families.

Hence, there are many references to the influence of the social demands for sexual freedom and sexualised living as contexts of abuse.

The presence of the pastor's family, while not completely removing the risk factor of abuse, does make the concealment of abuse more complex.

By contrast, in Catholic contexts, where for celibates, there is an absolute prohibition against sexual activity, the experience of sexualised abuse cannot be related to social phenomena like social promiscuity or social change in the 1960s or 1970s.

Consequently, where one can "blame" the outside world for the Protestant experience of abuse, the "blame" for the catholic experience must be sought within the Church itself.

The correlation of clericalism between both denominations could be summed up as follows:

"The institution comes first before everyone and everything else!"

For both denominations, those who administer the institution (diocese, local Church, parish, religious order/congregation, church business, and schools) of church work primarily to protect the institution's reputation.

Evidence shows that the "geographical solution" of moving an offender from one parish to another, one diocese to another, and one school to another has been used to protect the institution's reputation, not to heal the abused or address the offending.

The various reports expose the folly of this strategy; unfortunately, what the institutional leaders seek to protect—because it is sacred to them—becomes the thing most at risk of scandal.

Spiritual abuse, particularly prevalent in Catholic contexts, further complicates the issue, serving as a precursor to sexual misconduct.

This insidious form of manipulation highlights the power dynamics within the clergy and underscores the urgent need for reform.

However, this factor is almost irrelevant in cases within the Protestant context.

Consequently, although Catholic perpetrators often emphasise the intellectual and spiritual distance from their victims, Protestant perpetrators draw the affected into an overwhelming adult world of marital problems and sexuality and ask the victim to become the solution to these issues.

Catholic risk factors

​Clericalism and celibacy are Catholic risk factors because:

• they partly explain the phenomena of physical, sexual, and spiritual abuse,
• they play a significant role in the formation of clergy and seminarians, and
• they influence the structure and experience of clerical and religious life and parishes.

Because clericalism and celibacy ground the clerical and religious life, those who participate in these lifestyles become immersed in a "functional clericalism" that impacts how they live celibacy.

This functional clericalism is minimised by the cliché "Father knows best."

Functional clericalism is evident, too, when Father absents himself from the reality of the contemporary world by retreating into a private world of piety and liturgical practices that face the past and not the present.

Another example of functional clericalism is the unwillingness of priests to consecrate enough hosts for the people at Mass so that all can be fed from the Eucharistic Table at the Eucharist they attend.

Instead, just before communion distribution, he trots off to the Tabernacle to bring pre-consecrated hosts from a week ago for the people. At the same time, he eats and drinks from the Eucharistic meal at which he is presiding.

This functional clericalism declares: "Father matters most: the people can have what's left over."

This functional approach to the liturgy then clericalises the laity, who also see no need to receive from the Eucharistic Table on a Sunday.

Generally, because the laity has seen the functional clericalism of their priests, they, too, become functional in their approach to Sunday Liturgy and do not bother with the Sunday Mass because communion from the Tabernacle is just as good and more practical.

This functionalism lay at the heart of the online masses streamed during COVID-19.

What is evident from research and various inquiries is that the Church sees both clericalism and celibacy as part of the sacred structure of Catholic priesthood and religious life.

Because these are sacred elements, those who administer them work to protect them.

Often, this approach plays badly into the hands of institutional thinking, which determines how clerics are formed and how, in turn, they and the laity respond to specific pastoral needs.

In short, clericalism and celibacy are two critical influences on how the Catholic Church is administered and two guiding principles for deciding for whom the Church exists.

These various reports make it clear that we must listen to the voices of survivors, whose testimonies shed light on the deep-rooted issues within clerical culture.

Study findings

All the studies underscore the disturbing impact of a clerical mindset, which prioritises the institution over individuals' well-being.

This prioritisation manifests itself in protecting the Church's reputation at the expense of justice and accountability.

While celibacy has been implicated differently in each denomination, with Protestant congregations citing the influence of societal shifts in the 1960s and Catholicism facing internal challenges, the common thread remains clericalism.

In both cases, the hierarchical structure of the Church perpetuates a culture where abuse can be swept under the rug, shielded by a facade of righteousness.

Clericalism and celibacy are not immutable aspects of the priesthood; they are human constructs that have contributed to our systemic successes and failures.

The Church must reckon with these realities and prioritise its members' safety and well-being over preserving human traditions.

Functional clericalism perpetuates a harmful hierarchy that alienates both clergy and laity from the true spirit of the Christian community.

As we confront the sobering truths revealed by these studies, we must see reform as a continual and necessary imperative if the Church is to fulfil its sacred duty of ministering to the faithful.

It is time to dismantle the structures of clericalism that have allowed abuse to fester and embrace a vision of Christianity rooted in justice, compassion, and humility.

• Dr Joe Grayland is a visiting professor at the University of Tübingen (Germany). He has been a priest of the Diocese of Palmerston North for nearly thirty years.

After alleging Fr Jerome Kaywell had abused him in 2013 and 2014, the unnamed accuser recanted his claims.

He went on to apologise in writing to Kaywell.

He excused himself, declaring his allegation was the product of a false memory.

The Grammy award-winning priest was subsequently completely cleared of any allegation of sexual misconduct.

His bishop says the matter is closed and Kaywell's good name has been restored.

But Kaywell had "skin in the game".

Between the time the allegation first materialised on 26 January and when the diocese cleared him for pastoral duties on 14 March, a damaging chain reaction set off.

Major investigation

On 26 January Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida (Kaywell's diocese) "received notification from a law firm of an allegation against Kaywell of sexual misconduct".

From there fallout flew far and wide.

The bishop's office promptly informed the Police, telling them the alleged victim had been a minor.

Kaywell was immediately placed on administrative leave.

His parishioners learned of the allegation when Dewane wrote informing them of the allegation.

He told them Diocese leaders and community members would be conducting an investigation into the alleged offending.

Not guilty

Even though the complainant soon admitted his faulty memory had created the allegation from nothing, and Police confirmed no criminal accusation had been made, Kaywell's problem didn't just go away.

His diocese continued to investigate the matter on its own account.

This was in accordance with diocesan policy, Dewane says.

The diocesan review board met earlier this month to examine the investigatory report and all aspects of the matter.

Members unanimously concluded that "there was no evidence to support the allegation" Dewane told Kaywell's parishioners.

"The Diocesan Review Board recommended that Father Kaywell be returned to ministry" he wrote.

"I have accepted their recommendation and inform you that Father Kaywell has been returned to ministry, effective immediately.

"Therefore, I consider the matter closed and the good name of Father Jerome Kaywell restored" the bishop confirmed.

Source

• Fox4
• CNA

On January 30, the dicastery announced that it would specifically investigate and judge cases involving individuals "who habitually have an imperfect use of reason."

This announcement delineates the jurisdiction of the doctrinal office, specifying that cases involving vulnerable adults with temporary limitations on their ability to understand, will or resist an offence should be referred to other Vatican departments.

This move seeks to address longstanding questions regarding the treatment of vulnerable adults within Church procedures, particularly in comparison to minors under the age of 18.

The discussion surrounding the protection of vulnerable adults from clerical sexual abuse has evolved over the past 15 years, with Church documents progressively acknowledging this group's need for safeguarding.

However, ambiguity regarding the scope of this protection has prompted debates, especially concerning adults in positions of dependency such as those under the spiritual guidance of clergy.

The recent clarification from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith underscores a more precise approach to defining its jurisdiction, limiting its investigative responsibilities to minors and those with a habitual impairment in reasoning.

The Vatican indicates that other cases of abuse involving vulnerable adults fall under the purview of various other dicasteries, depending on the nature of the alleged perpetrator and the victim's specific vulnerabilities.

This development represents the Vatican's ongoing efforts to address and mitigate clerical sexual abuse, highlighting a structured and differentiated approach to various victim categories.

It acknowledges the complexity of vulnerability and the need for specialised attention across different ecclesiastical bodies to ensure justice and protection for all Church community members.

Historically, the Church's legal framework has evolved to address the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by clergy.

John Paul II's 2001 document Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela initially tasked the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with overseeing cases of minor abuse.

This was expanded by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 to include developmentally disabled adults over 18.

Pope Francis further refined these definitions in his 2019 document Vos Estis Lux Mundi which distinguished minors and vulnerable persons based on their capacity to understand or resist abuse.

Source

• OSV

New Zealand Customs Service, New Zealand Police and the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) work in partnership to identify child victims and target offenders involved in the online sexual abuse of children, in New Zealand and across the world.

The agencies are marking World Children's Day, by raising the alarm on children's rights and welfare.

Customs said advances in technology had led to more crimes being committed both in the real world and online, with offenders hiding their identities behind encryption and anonymising tools.

But it said the offending was against real children, who suffered serious sexual abuse. Read more

A series of scandals has been casting a shady light on some members.

The Community, which has links to New Zealand, is a 50-year-old French Catholic group. It was inspired by the Catholic Charismatic movement

Located in Leithfield, North Canterbury, the Beatitudes Community is in the Christchurch diocese. The group has been in New Zealand since 1994.

The Community of the Beatitudes is present in twenty-six countries.

It brings together in one spiritual family of sisters, brothers, priests, and married and single lay people. They all share a fraternal life, a life of prayer and mission with a purpose to follow Christ on the path of the Beatitudes.

Independent Commission announced

The group's recent general assembly in France agreed an Independent Commission was needed to investigate the abuse.

They were prompted by delegates discussing concerns about sexual abuse and abuse of conscience that may have taken place within the community.

Despite victims' "high expectations", no timetable for the investigation has yet been set.

We felt the time was right

"From the very first speeches [at the assembly], we felt the time was right for this review for which the community was not ready at the previous assembly four years ago," said Sister Lætitia du Cœur de Jésus, who is in charge of communications.

The Commission's aims are to shed light on serious shortcomings and deviances within the community.

The Commission will liaise with historian Tangi Cavalin. He has been investigating "the role of the Dominican institution" in dealing with the sexual and spiritual abuse committed by Dominican brothers Marie-Dominique and Thomas Philippe.

Cavalin has also been involved in the matter of the L'Arche Community and Jean Vanier.

Spiritual and sexual abuse

In 2011, the French Community of the Beatitudes admitted that its founder Gerard Croissant was a sexual abuser.

Then in 2013, the French bishops expressed surprise that "Spiritual abuse," had been inflicted by the lay founders, or religious superiors, using their aura and spiritual power often on young and fragile personalities.

Among those identified by the French bishops were fourteen new ecclesial (church) communities, including the Beatitudes Community.

Others, including The Legion of Christ, the Community of St John, and Hearts have seen formal charges of misconduct lodged primarily against their founders.

Victims considered

The Beatitudes Community international meeting also discussed measures to be taken for victims.

These measures include completing the contact details for listening centres indicated on the Community website.

Those at the meeting lso considered decisions that could be taken in the coming months, particularly concerning compensation.

Victims network

In addition, a network for Community of the Beatitudes victims was founded on October 9.

It was established after the new national canonical criminal tribunal said it had received "a canonical mandate from the dioceses of Albi, Saint-Dié and Toulouse."

The mandate is "to continue the preliminary investigation into various cases involving certain members of the Community of the Beatitudes."

Source

• La Croix

It comes after reports of disorder at Auckland War Memorial Museum when a small number of Palestinian sympathisers gathering to rally against the building being lit up in Israeli colours met Israeli sympathisers there.

There were also ugly scenes in Sydney last Monday after thousands of pro-Palestinian sympathisers gathered on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, which was illuminated in blue and white in support of Israel. Read more

"A synodal Church is a listening Church… but it needs to go a step further: a synodal Church is an accountable Church and an accountable Church needs to be synodal," said Myriam Wijlens, (pictured) a canon law professor at the University of Erfurt, Germany.

The synodality and accountability in Catholic Church are deeply interconnected, Wijlens, a member of the Coordinating Commission of the Synod on Synodality, said during a wide-ranging interview with Polish Catholic quarterly Wiez.

The first phase of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops started in the Vatican on 4 October and is scheduled to end on 29 October.

The second phase will be held next October.

The bishops' synod is part of the ongoing global Synod on Synodality which was started by Pope Francis on Oct. 10, 2021.

The synod in the Vatican "is a meeting within the larger Synod. It is a special moment within the Synod of the Church," Wijlens said.

Pope Francis's suggestion to bishops' conferences to reflect on the accountability aspect of its members in 2019 was due to the inefficient response from bishops towards abuse allegations, she said.

"The Church became aware that there was the abuse of minors by clergy, but there was also a severe problem in that those in leadership had not acted in accordance with the responsibility flowing from their office as bishop," Wijlens said.

The "Instrumentum laboris" - the guiding document for the synod had questions that discussed the accountability of bishops and the role of women in it, she pointed out.

The document has questions such as "How can bishops be more accountable?" and a separate section on women which asks, "How women [can] assist the Church in being more accountable?"

Wijlens said that the priority was to "complete the work of making accountability well seated in theory, in theology and canon law."

In 2020, Pope Francis through a motu proprio, a papal document personally signed by the pope, titled "Vos estis lux mundi" (You Are the Light of the World) ordered bishops worldwide to report cases of clergy sex crimes to the police even when not legally bound to do so.

The Vatican's manual for bishops and religious superiors details the process for conducting in-house investigations into allegations of priests who rape and molest minors and vulnerable adults.

Wijlens suggested that independent judges who take a neutral approach toward the evaluation of abuse cases are better suited than local bishops as there is a possibility of bias when they may have to investigate each other.

"We need independent judges not only because the bishops might need to investigate each other and that would not help the issue of credibility.

"We also see that those who conduct these investigations need to have expertise in collecting evidence, weighing it, etc," she said.

She recommended the engaging of laity or "judges in civil courts who have special training," to investigate abuse cases.

She also pointed out that the implementation of any changes related to accountability or women's participation in the Catholic Church cannot be achieved at a uniform scale globally.

"A challenge is certainly that not all places go with the same speed and that thus not all are at the same point in implementing being an accountable Church," Wijlens said.

Based on her experience in the Synodal consultations in Europe, Wijlens said that a desire for transparency was exhibited by the Church leadership.

She referred to the synodal meeting in Prague which was open to journalists.

"Their presence gave expression to the desire to be transparent. That too had an impact on the meeting," she said.

Wijlens pointed out that the meeting had 49 women as participants in contrast to only 42 bishops among the total 200 participants, showing increased participation of women in Church reforms.

She also called for the need to develop various structures of accountability based on the "context of where people live."

"We should strengthen diocesan pastoral councils, parish pastoral councils and search for ways how this participation may be better developed," Wijlens said.

She pointed out that one of the key needs is to create an awareness among the Catholic clergy "to bring the laity as the center of the Church."

"We first need a change of mentality. Because we may have rules and procedures for everything, but it will not stop people from not implementing them. Internal awareness is absolutely crucial," she said.

"This change will not happen overnight, but things are developing already. A synodal process is a journey in this direction. The train has begun to ride, and we won't be able to stop it," she added.

• Professor Myriam Wijlens is a Dutch theologian and professor of canon law at the University of Erfurt (Germany), a clerical sexual abuse expert in civilian courts regarding Church liability, a canonical delegate for penal investigations and a policy writer.
• Republished from UCANews.com

The comments come from Hans Zollner SJ, a distinguished psychologist with a doctorate in theology.

He made the comments in an interview with Infovaticana.

"Celibacy is not a direct cause of abuse; what can become a risk factor is a ministry poorly lived and not fully accepted," says Zollner.

He says it is a misconception to think that abolishing celibacy would put an end to abuse in the Church.

Zollner, a former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, also serves as the director of the Institute of Anthropology at Rome's Gregorian University.

"All scientific reports, including those commissioned by non-Church institutions, conclude that celibacy in itself does not lead to abuse.

"Therefore it is wrong to say that with the abolition of celibacy, there would no longer be cases of abuse in the Catholic Church" he emphasised.

He said the core issue is an abuse of power.

Zollner places the focus on the celibate's leaders, the demands of the apostolate and an individual's inner life balance.

"If a priest lacks balance in human, spiritual and professional aspects, that inner void and unfulfilled desires can lead him to commit abuse" he explained.

The psychologist also dismissed the idea that there is a simple, one-to-one relationship between homosexuality and abuse.

"Human behaviour is complex and many male child molesters do not identify solely as homosexual" he said.

He referred to the 2011 U.S. John Jay Report which categorises such individuals as 'occasional abusers' and notes that instances of abuse against girls have risen with the advent of co-ed schools and an increase in female altar servers.

On the subject of the profile of abusers within the Church, Zollner identified four recurring psychological patterns: the narcissistic abuser, the obsessive, the insecure, and the true pedophile - as defined in psychiatric terms.

Commenting on the seminary training of priests, Zollner highlights the critical role of seminary formation and education.

"It's essential that seminarians not only acquire knowledge but also life skills.

"They need to be fully prepared to lead a balanced life and to excel in their future ministries," he said.

Zollner says that victims and survivors need a support network comprised of empathetic listeners and professionals from various fields.

"Those who have suffered should seek justice and surround themselves with people who can genuinely assist them in healing," he recommended.

Source

• CNA

The Commission is condemning Church leadership for its glaring failures to prevent abuse.

Established by Pope Francis in 2014, the commission has pledged to push church authorities for more decisive measures.

The statement made public on 27 September underscores the commission's escalating concern over the "anguish and pain of a terrible betrayal" felt by victims of abuse.

It indicts not only the abusers but also a Church that has been "unable or even unwilling" to confront the severity of its own actions.

"Each day reveals fresh cases of abuse, cover-ups and poor handling by Church authorities worldwide," the commission said, adding that they are profoundly disturbed by the conduct of individuals holding responsible roles within the Church.

The comments come just a few days before Pope Francis' Synod on Synodality begins in Rome.

The Commission is calling for action and making an urgent plea for the upcoming Synod on Synodality to dedicate substantial time to discussing sexual abuse within the Church.

"We insist that the issue of sexual abuse be at the forefront of your discussions on teaching, ministry, formation and governance," the commission declared in its "Call to Action."

The commission has laid out three critical priorities for the Church:

• Strengthened solidarity with victims and survivors
• Amplified commitment and resources for safeguarding initiatives
• Making safeguarding a pivotal issue in synod discussions

"The sexual abuse crisis cuts to the very core of the synod's agenda," the commission stressed.

"It infiltrates discussions on leadership models, ministerial roles and professional standards of behaviour."

The commission has a list of goals, including an outline of several pressing objectives for the Church, by:

• Being a place of welcome, empathy and reconciliation for those impacted by abuse and a strong advocate "against the endemic complacency of those in the church and society that silence these testimonies, minimize their significance and stifle hope for renewal"
• Taking "full account and full responsibility for the wrongs done to so many in its care"
• Protecting all children with "appropriate safety policies and procedures, ones that are known and verified"
• Having well-run, "transparent and accessible systems of redress for wrongdoing by the church's ministers"
• Implementing and taking responsibility for "robust safeguarding" in dioceses, parishes, schools, hospitals, retreat centres, houses of formation and everywhere the church is present and active.

The commission insisted that these goals should be a continuous focus for the Synod on Synodality and not just a topic for brief consideration.

"We urge synod attendees to work towards these goals throughout the entire synod process" the statement concluded.

The commission also said that "recent publicly reported cases point to tragically harmful deficiencies in the norms intended to punish abusers and hold accountable those whose duty is to address wrongdoing.

"We are long overdue in fixing the flaws in procedures that leave victims wounded and in the dark both during and after cases have been decided" it said, adding that the commission will continue to study what is not working and to press for necessary changes.

Sources

• Crux
• NCR

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