VATICAN CITY (VATICAN CITY)
La Croix International [France]
March 30, 2023
By Loup Besmond de Senneville
Hans Zollner, the German Jesuit who has been a leader in the Vatican’s fight against clergy sex abuse, resigns from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors
Father Hans Zollner, one of the most respected experts and pioneers in the Vatican’s developing fight against the clergy sex-abuse crisis, has resigned from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (“Tutela Minorum”) citing disagreements over the way the body is being operated.
“I have noticed issues that need to be urgently addressed and that have made it impossible for me to continue further,” he said Wednesday in a surprisingly candid message published on social media.
The 56-year-old German Jesuit theologian and psychologist had been a member of Tutela Minorum since its establishment in 2014.
The announcement of his resignation was actually made earlier on Wednesday by the commission’s chairman, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. But the cardinal, who is also a member of Pope Francis’ C9 council of advisors, did not mention that Zollner had left because of any disagreements.
“Father Hans told me that he came to this decision after reflecting on his recent appointment as consultant for Safeguarding to the Diocese of Rome,” Cardinal O’Malley explained in a statement that was also made public through social media. The Capuchin Franciscan cardinal praised Zollner’s “abiding presence” and work over the years, and conveyed the pope’s “deepest thanks” for the Jesuit’s service.
In fact, Zollner is an emblematic actor in the fight against pedocriminality within the Catholic Church. A full professor since 2003 at the psychology department of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, he founded the university’s Center for Child Protection in 2012. He continues to lead the center, which is now called the Institute of Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care.
Zollner’s resignation from Tutela Minorum comes against a backdrop of disagreement over the commission’s role since the reform of the Roman Curia. Since new rules came into force last June, the commission is now directly attached to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF).
In his statement on Wednesday, the German Jesuit denounced “a lack of clarity regarding the selection process of members” of Tutal Minorum, as well as “inadequate” financial transparency. “It is paramount for the commission to clearly show how funds are used in its work. Furthermore, there should be transparency on how decisions are taken in the commission,” he said. “Lastly, I am unaware of any regulations that govern the relationship between the commission and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, since the commission was placed within the Dicastery last June,” Zollner added.
Internal tensions
He is publicly expressing in his new statement concerns that several current and former members of the commission have been saying – all privately – for several months. They believe that the pontifical commission is no longer able to exercise any influence over the DDF, which is the office in charge of the most serious cases of pedocriminality.
“What freedom of speech will we have over the actions of the disciplinary commission, which is responsible for handling these cases and punishing guilty priests?” one of them told La Croix last fall.
On the other hand, defenders of the Vatican reforms that were codified last June with the publication of the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium claim that attaching Tutela Minorum to the DDF considerably strengthens the commission’s role within the Roman Curia. For now, the commission has been more specifically charged with examining the actions taken by bishops around the world following the publication of Vos estis lux mundi.
This Roman document, published in 2019, obliges all bishops to create offices to handle complaints. Bishops are obliged – on pain of sanctions – to report clerics accused of sexual abuse to Rome. The pope updated and reinforced Vos estis on March 25 and ordered that it come into effect at the end of April.