MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald
Sunday, May 4, 2014
By: Jordan Graham
A Vatican commission led by Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley will create new policies to hold bishops and other church authorities accountable for failing to report suspected sexual abuse, a move experts say shows the church is taking the problem of pedophile priests more seriously than in the past.
“That reflects a changing culture at the top,” said the Rev. James Bretzke, a professor of moral theology at Boston College.
Pope Francis created the commission in December to advise him on church sexual abuse, and its eight members met for the first time last week. O’Malley yesterday said current church laws could hold bishops accountable if they failed to protect children but those laws haven’t been enough and new protocols are needed. …
Phil Saviano, a survivor and former head of the New England chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the commission must emphasize punishing church superiors who did not report abuse in the past.
“There seems to be a lot of talk about accountability,” Saviano said. “Certainly that seems to be what a lot of victims are looking for, consequences.”
The Vatican is under increasing pressure to address the abuse, including by the United Nations. Tomorrow, the U.N. Committee against Torture will scrutinize the church’s response.
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