VATICAN CITY
USA Today

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis announced the initial members of a commission to advise him on sex abuse policy Saturday, tapping lay and religious experts — and an Irish woman assaulted as a child by a priest — to start plotting the commission’s tasks and priorities.

The eight members were announced after Francis came under criticism from victims’ groups for a perceived lack of attention to the abuse scandal, which has seriously damaged the church’s reputation around the world and cost dioceses billions of dollars in legal fees and settlements.

The Vatican in December announced that Francis had decided to create the commission to advise the church on best policies to protect children, train church personnel and keep abusers out of the clergy. But no details had been released until Saturday and it remains unknown if the commission will deal with the critical issue…