VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service
By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service
9.15.2016
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Though it has no juridical power, Pope Francis’ committee on protecting children has discovered it has consultative punch.
Members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors have now become the go-to team for educating bishops, Vatican diplomats in training and Curia staffers, religious orders and local churches about safeguarding children, adolescents and vulnerable adults and protecting them against sexual abuse.
More than two years after Pope Francis established this advisory body and 16 months after its statutes were approved, “the openness is finally there” to tap into the papal think tank and take advantage of its expertise, said Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a commission member, psychologist and president of the Center for Child Protection at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University.
“The interest in doing something is growing fast,” he told Catholic News Service. The commission’s experts — including an abuse survivor — have been called on to speak all over the world and, this year, at the Vatican as well. They have addressed staff at the offices overseeing clergy, bishops, religious and future papal diplomats, providing them with a priority list of what to do.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.