VATICAN CITY
Crux
By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent February 7, 2015
ROME — Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, in his capacity as president of a papal commission on sexual abuse, has called on bishops around the world to meet with victims of clerical abuse and also has asked every bishops’ conference to designate a contact person to coordinate anti-abuse efforts.
Speaking in a Vatican briefing on Saturday, O’Malley said that meeting with victims was a life-changing experience for him and also an eye-opener on how little the Church had done on the issue by 1993, when he first encountered it.
O’Malley said “there have to be consequences” for bishops who don’t respond appropriately to reports of abuse, including procedures that allow these cases to be handled efficiently and not in an “open-ended way.”
Commission members also criticized Pope Francis’ remarks that it’s okay for parents to spank their children, saying there is no place for physical discipline. The panel plans to make recommendations to him about protecting kids from corporal punishment.
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