AUSTRALIA
9 News
The Catholic Church in Australia will tell the Vatican that it is in the interests of survivors of abuse that investigations and settlement determinations be taken out of the hands of the clergy.
Francis Sullivan, the head of the Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, also says that all assistance schemes for victims of abuse are being reviewed.
The council co-ordinates the Catholic Church’s response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The comments from Mr Sullivan came after concerns were raised by abuse survivors that the Vatican was telling the United Nations that Towards Healing – the Church’s Australian process for handling abuse complaints – had been effective.
SNAP Australia, a survivors’ network for people abused by priests, said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, who led the Vatican delegation appearing before the UN committee against torture, had cited the Australian process as an example of the Church “responding positively” to abuse victims.
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