VATICAN CITY
Reuters
Irish abuse victim Marie Collins said on Wednesday she had left a commission advising Pope Francis on how to root out sexual abuse of children by clergy, in a major embarrassment to the Holy See.
The work of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, set up by Francis in March 2014, has been slowed down by internal disputes and resignations.
Collins, who was the only remaining Commission member to have suffered sexual abuse by a cleric, said the panel had been hampered by the Vatican’s administration, known as the Curia, resulting in “constant setbacks.”
“The lack of cooperation, particularly by the dicastery most closely involved in dealing with cases of abuse, has been shameful,” she said in a statement.
Collins’s decision is a major setback for the pope’s efforts to tackle sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, even though she praised him for his “genuine wish” to solve the problem and his “sincere move” in setting up the commission.
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.