VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A papal commission on child protection will be expanding its nine-member panel to include more experts and another survivor of clerical abuse.
The Commission for the Protection of Minors, which Pope Francis established last December, is now awaiting the pope’s approval of members’ latest efforts as they aim to lay out a pastoral approach to helping victims and prevent future abuse.
Marie Collins, a commission member and survivor of clerical abuse, told the Associated Press Oct. 6 that the specially appointed group has agreed on its provisional statutes and finalized a list of potential new members, adding experts from other countries and disciplines as well as including another survivor.
Currently the commission includes: U.S. Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, head of the commission; U.S. Father Robert W. Oliver, commission secretary; Collins and six, mostly European, experts in mental health, civil and church law, and moral theology.
The group, which had its third meeting Oct. 4-5 at the Vatican, is awaiting the pope’s final approval of their proposals.
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