Vatican abuse prosecutor says Rome ‘well aware’ of accountability problem

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Nov. 25, 2013 NCR Today

The Vatican’s top prosecutor for sex abuse cases says Rome is “well aware” of how frustrated many people are with perceived confusion about how to hold bishops accountable when they’re accused of failing to make a “zero tolerance” policy stick and hopes a solution will emerge from debates over curial reform under Pope Francis.

Fr. Robert Oliver, a New York native who helped lead recovery efforts from the abuse crisis in the Boston archdiocese before being appointed as the Promoter of Justice in the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in late 2012, spoke to NCR on Friday.

He made the comment on accountability in the context of a question about Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., who was convicted in September 2012 of a misdemeanor crime of failure to report a priest suspected of abuse and has remained in office.

This week, Oliver will be in the United Kingdom for a series of talks as well as meetings with abuse victims and child services professionals. It marks a fairly rare public outing for the 53-year-old canon lawyer, who so far has not developed the same high profile as his predecessor, Charles Scicluna, a Maltese cleric who became the face and voice of the cleanup effort on sex abuse under Pope Benedict XVI before returning to Malta as an auxiliary bishop a year ago. …

Other highlights from his NCR interview:

* Oliver asserted that recent reports suggest “a dramatic drop in incidents of abuse” committed by Catholic personnel, confirming, in his view, that “the church has made great strides in all parts of the world.”
* He conceded that in some instances, processing abuse cases both at the local level and in Rome “takes too long” and said his office is working on the problem.
* Oliver said in an average month today, the number of abuse cases reported to Rome is in the dozens, most dating from the distant past.
* He commends the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child for taking an interest in child sexual abuse, including the Vatican’s record on the problem, despite suspicions in some Catholic circles that it’s an excuse for attacking the church. He confirmed that the Vatican is preparing a response for the committee ahead of a scheduled Jan. 16 hearing in Geneva.
* Without commenting directly on recent charges of abuse against a papal nuncio in the Dominican Republic, Oliver said such situations offer a reminder that the problem “never goes away” but also that “the changes the church has made are working.”
* Oliver said it’s legitimate for church leaders to be concerned about the impact of litigation related to the abuse scandals, but they need to make clear that “our main concern is not about protecting the church’s money.”

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