VATICAN CITY
The New York Times
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
MAY 3, 2014
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican commission advising Pope Francis on sexual abuse policy will develop “clear and effective protocols” to protect children from pedophile priests, including procedures to hold church authorities accountable if they neglect to act on cases of abuse, Vatican officials said Saturday.
The commission will advise the pope on adopting policies developed from the existing “best practices” for the protection of minors, which can be used worldwide. Recommendations to the pope will also include ways of better educating the clergy about the issue of child abuse and its devastating consequences.
“The protocols will address everyone,” regardless of their status in the church, “and will provide clear ways of dealing with those who perpetrate the abuse, and those who were negligent in protecting children,” Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston and one of the eight members of the commission, told reporters at a news briefing on Saturday.
Existing canon laws had not adequately or sufficiently addressed this issue, he acknowledged. “Our concern is to make sure that there are clear and effective protocols to deal with situations where people of the church did not fulfill their obligation to protect children,” he said.
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