Pope plans to create centers to fight abuse

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis gave a new mandate to his sex abuse advisory commission Friday, telling its members to work with bishops around the world to establish special welcome centers for victims and audit the church’s progress on fighting abuse from its new perch within the Vatican.

Francis warned that without more transparency and accountability from the church, the faithful would continue to lose trust in the Catholic hierarchy after decades of revelations about priests who raped and molested children and bishops and religious superiors who covered up those crimes.

Francis issued the new marching orders during a meeting with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which he created in 2013 as an ad hoc body to advise the church on best practices to protect minors and prevent abuse.

“The testimony of the survivors represents an open wound on the body of Christ, which is the church,” he told them.

Despite the fanfare that greeted its creation, the commission’s limited mandate has frustrated survivors, its outsider status generated resistance in the Vatican and one of its biggest initial recommendations — a special Vatican tribunal to prosecute bishops who covered up for pedophiles — went nowhere.

But Francis has sought to breathe new life into the commission. In his recent reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, he gave it greater institutional weight by making it part of the newly named Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that processes clergy sex abuse cases around the world.

In his speech to its members Friday, Francis said he decided to ground the commission in the church’s central government to prevent it from being some “satellite commission.”

He assured them he wasn’t trying curb their freedom or limit their mandate — quite the opposite. He stressed that the commission’s leadership would continue to report directly to him and enjoy full independence.

“It is your responsibility to expand the scope of this mission in such a way that the protection and care of those who have experienced abuse may become normative in every sector of the church’s life,” he said.

The institutional legitimacy means the commission now has access to reports the bishops conferences prepare for the Vatican about their work and can engage with the doctrine office on how cases are being handled, said the Rev. Andrew Small, Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s deputy.

Francis passed a 2019 church law explicitly saying survivors have the right to know the outcome of their cases.

He also lifted the pontifical secret that covered such investigations to facilitate transparency with victims as well as law enforcement agencies. But advocates for victims say the church still has a long way to go to adequately address the longterm trauma victims experience.

Francis also called for the commission to conduct an annual audit of what is being globally done by the Catholic hierarchy and what needs to change to better protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse.