A collaboration agreement has been signed at the Vatican between the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith) and the Dicastery for Evangelization: the formation of bishops and the exchange of good practices are fundamental.
Not only the Churches of ancient history and tradition, but also the Churches of recent foundation may further develop special care and attention for the protection of minors and vulnerable persons, in order to give an adequate response in all those circumstances in which the clergy are unfortunately guilty of such behaviors.
All this will be possible thanks to a "specific agreement of collaboration and exchange" signed on April 21 by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, proprefect of the Section for First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization, and Cardinal Patrick O'Malley, OFMCap, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
There will be three specific areas in which the collaboration between the two bodies of the Roman Curia will be concretized.
Attention to victims
A first focus will be on victims. The agreement states that more effective ways of including victims will be identified, based on previous experience. In this regard, the network of so-called Memorare Centers will be developed to help dioceses set up offices to listen to victims and, where appropriate, facilitate complaints.
Through these Centers it will be possible to host informative sessions by members and staff of the Vatican Commission, in order to provide more updated procedures on safeguarding.
Service to the dioceses
A second service will concern individual dioceses, with greater and more specific attention to bishops during visitations. ad limina to Rome.
The Commission will offer meetings and conferences to foster a deeper understanding of how best to exercise child protection in each country and will take the opportunity to urge the adoption and implementation of the guidelines required by the Vatican for each diocese.
Support for the bishops
With individual pastors of local Churches in mind, the Commission will make its international network of experts available to them so that bishops are more aware of their role in listening to victims, creating safe environments for minors and vulnerable people, and handling complaints.
It will be both ongoing formation and an initial criterion to be given to newly appointed bishops, obviously in the ecclesiastical circumscriptions under the jurisdiction of the Dicastery for Evangelization.
Finally, a special collaboration will be carried out with the Pontifical Work of Missionary Childhood, which depends on the Dicastery and is present in more than 130 countries, focusing especially on the missionary protagonism of children in favor of their needy peers.
In this regard, the agreement provides for the exchange of information and the promotion of synergistic actions in the field of education and prevention.
In line with the reform of the Curia
The signing of the document is in line with the provisions of the apostolic constitution. Praedicate Evangelium on the reform of the Roman Curia, to ensure the sharing of common service criteria among the various bodies, especially in the area of the protection of minors and the most vulnerable.
The Agreement - which will have an initial duration of three years - also responds to the specific request Pope Francis made to the Commission for the Protection of Minors in April of last year, when he received its members in audience, to help the Bishops identify and share the "best methodsThe "guardianship" program is also helping to heal survivors and "the survivors' rights".taking into account that justice and prevention are complementary"..
The results of this collaboration will be collected annually in the Report on Safeguarding in the Church, which will be given to the Pontiff, as he requested in the same audience last year.
A great opportunity
For Cardinal O'Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission, the initiative represents a great opportunity to provide a fundamental service also to those dioceses in which economic resources are often limited, but which should not miss the opportunity to develop adequate programs to welcome victims of abuse.
It is essential, in fact, to ensure "a strong pastoral involvement with those who have been injured" and to continue to guarantee safe places for children and young people.
More training
For his part, Cardinal Tagle judges this Agreement as "a great exercise in interdicasterial work".This is evidently the result of the recent reform of the Roman Curia, which is more oriented to the formative aspect: "This is what I see: the formation in this field of bishops, priests, seminarians, religious.".
In addition, it is necessary to "better understand the impact of abuse and violent behavior on the lives of individuals and communities."even in those territories of first evangelization where the Church still represents a small community. For Cardinal Tagle, finally, we cannot rule out an extension of this perspective of protection, which obviously must be made even more "culture in the Church".to other Dicasteries of the Holy See.
Indeed, in addition to the concern for the clergy, we must not forget other areas where abuses occur, such as the family - thus involving the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life - or where situations of poverty occur - involving in this case the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development.
Doctrine of faith
Since March 2022, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, by virtue of the new Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, has been placed within the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, although with its own autonomy in terms of personnel, members and proposals, and with its own Delegate President who directs it.
Among the mandates received from Pope Francis is that of overseeing the directives that the Episcopal Conferences are called upon to adopt to protect minors and to respond appropriately to these behaviors (art. 78, 2 of the Praedicate Evangelium), especially to ensure that they do not lose their effectiveness and are verified in a timely manner.
The Commission has the responsibility to create Church-wide reporting mechanisms for those who have suffered abuse. This is something that was first codified in the Motu Proprio Vos Estis Lux Mundi 2019, the fruit of the Pope's meeting that same year with the Church's top leaders.
It will be in the hands of the Annual Report requested by the Pope to describe in detail the nature of the adequacy of safeguarding policies and procedures adopted at all levels of the Church, including their implementation and effectiveness, highlighting good practices and providing appropriate feedback. A "vital tool" to reinforce the credibility of the Church's efforts in this sad area of sexual abuse.
New members
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was instituted by a chirograph on March 22, 2014, one year after the election of Pope Francis. In April 2015 the Statute was approved; in March 2022, with the publication of the new Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, the body was integrated, as mentioned above, into the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Finally, in September last year, Pope Francis appointed ten new members, including seven women and three men, bringing their number to 20.
With the resignation of Jesuit Hans Zollner, there are now 19 members. The Plenary Assembly of the Commission is expected shortly, which should also better define the recent integration with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
