VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service
Rosie Scammell | February 8, 2016
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican commission on clerical sexual abuse has wrapped up a turbulent week-long meeting during which one of two victims on the panel was effectively ousted and Chilean Catholics upset that Pope Francis has not sacked a controversial bishop delivered protest letters.
But a statement released on Monday (Feb. 8) at the end of the biannual meeting of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors made no mention of its decision on Saturday that Peter Saunders, a clerical abuse victim from Britain, would take a “leave of absence.”
After that announcement, following a majority decision by the 17-member commission indicating they could no longer work with Saunders, he insisted that he had no intention of resigning.
The final statement by the papal commission on Monday instead cited progress on a range of issues and reiterated that its chief task is establishing policies that churches around the world should follow to protect children.
Saunders, founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood in Britain, has frequently been critical of the Vatican’s handling of clerical abuse and the apparent slow working pace of the commission, which was created by Pope Francis nearly two years ago.
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