VATICAN CITY
The New York Times
By JIM YARDLEY
MARCH 22, 2014
ROME — Pope Francis on Saturday named a diverse group of laypeople and clergy as his first appointees to a special Vatican commission addressing the clerical sexual abuse crisis, a list that includes an equal number of women as men, as well as an Irish activist who was abused by a priest as a child.
In recent months, Francis has come under criticism from a variety of advocacy groups for abuse victims, especially after he defended the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of the sexual abuse crisis in a recent interview. Last month, a United Nations commission issued a stinging report on the church’s record of handling cases of abuse, and some advocacy groups have considered the pope’s appointments to his commission as a telling signal of his commitment to combating the crisis.
The eight names released on Saturday suggested that Francis had deliberately shaken up the usual way of doing things at the Vatican: Four of the members are women, including Marie Collins, an Irish woman who was abused as a girl in the 1960s and later became a national activist to help other victims. She also pushed the authorities in Ireland to prosecute the priest who abused her in 1997, the Vatican said.
The list includes five laypeople, and just three clergy members. Among the clergy, the most notable is Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley of Boston, who has been a central figure in the Roman Catholic Church’s response to the abuse crisis in the United States.
In a statement, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the initial task of the eight members would be to determine the scope of the commission’s responsibility and also develop a list of other potential members from around the world.
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