The Vatican’s report on abuses criticizes the ‘gesture’ of the victims, and Italy’s response
The Vatican’s Commission for the Protection of Children criticized top Catholic leaders in an annual report Thursday for not moving fast enough to help victims of sexual abuse and implementing new protection efforts around the world.
For decades, the 1.4 Catholic Church has been rocked by scandals around the world involving abuse and cover-ups, damaging its credibility and costing hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.
A new report by the Church is guilty of not providing information to those who were abused about how their reports of abuse were handled or whether they were allowed to report to protesters. We also said that the Commission’s requests for information about the protection of secure protocols had not always been answered and the Italian church had failed to provide complete information.
“In many cases… Victims/Survivors report that the church has responded with unprofessional gestures, gestures, and a persistent refusal to engage with victims/” the report said.
The Vatican commission, created by the late Pope Francis in 2014, was plagued by the departure of many of its members over the years and its first annual report was completed.
Pope Leo xiv, who was elected in May to replace Francis, met several members of the Commission and appointed a new President of the group, Archbishop Thibuult Verny of France.
The new report, covering 2024 and spanning 103 pages, is the commission’s largest document yet and often criticizes the church’s leadership, without naming people.
Its main topic is the problem of reparations for victims of abuse, but it also examines the protection efforts of the church in all 22 countries and in one high Vatican Ministry.
The level of Italian cooperation is critical
The Ministry has studied the dichastery of evangelization, a flourishing operation responsible for overseeing the activities of the church in developing countries.
The report said that the dichastery has only one officer responsible for handling security issues. It also said that the lack of clarity on the distribution of work on abuse cases with other Vatican departments “could cause confusion and delays in the initial investigation and handling of complaints.”
Among the countries examined by the new report was Italy, for a long time the cheap battaction was slow to deal with abuse by the clergy.
This report criticizes the bishops of this country to work more closely with the Vatican Commission, saying that the questions about the protection of practices sent by all 81 dioceses are answered only by them. In contrast, South Korea, another country surveyed, had 100 participants.
The anti-abuse commission is the first of its kind in the Catholic Church. Francis, who died in April, made addressing clerical abuse the most important of his 12-year pontificate, with mixed results.
Read this report:
Resources lacking in other parts of the world: Report
One of Francis’s biggest reforms was creating a global system for Catholics to report allegations of abuse or cover-ups by bishops. Abuse survivors and advocates have called for more action, including a zero-landing policy for priests accused of abuse.
The report on Thursday criticized the Vatican for not being transparent when bishops are removed from office for problems related to abuse or cover-ups. The Vatican rarely gives reasons for the removal of a Bishop, even in cases involving abuse, preferring only to say that the Pope accepted the Bishop’s resignation.
“The lack of accountability of church leaders was a common concern raised by victims/survivors,” the report said. “The Commission emphasizes the importance of publicly communicating the reasons for re-signing and/or removal, when the decision is related to cases of abuse or neglect.”
Also, the report concluded that “an important part of Central and South America, Africa and Asia still lacks adequate dedicated resources” for labor abuse.
