AUSTRALIA
The Tablet (UK)
September 11, 2017
By Mark Brolly
In the days after the Commissioner’s address, General Synod approved rules to protect children that are binding on all clergy and church workers
Australia is a country where “people have lost trust completely” in the Church, according to Jesuit Fr Hans Zollner, a founding member of Pope Francis’ Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Fr Zollner, who is also President of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, told church workers in Brisbane that “there seems to be almost nil trust in what the Church says”, The Catholic Leader newspaper reported on 7 September.
“This is not true in other parts of the world,” he said. “I think you are in a pretty unique situation.”
Fr Zollner said while many countries in Europe and North America had been dealing for some years with effectively safeguarding against sexual abuse, most countries were still yet to grapple with the issue.
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