Friday, March 3, 2017

Card. O'Malley:Voices of Sex Abuse Victims Vital; Abused Woman Quits Papal Panel Due to Stalling

Cardinal Sean O'Malley -- the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston -- vowed yesterday to make sure clergy sexual abuse victims have a voice on a Vatican panel addressing the crisis that rocked the Catholic Church, the Religion News Service website reports today (March 3, 2017).


His promise came a day after the lone sexual abuse survivor serving on that papal commission resigned in exasperation with what she described as "shameful" Vatican foot-dragging.


O'Malley said he shared some of the concerns about Vatican stonewalling expressed by Marie Collins, a clergy abuse survivor from Ireland who on Ash Wednesday resigned in frustration from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. O'Malley is chairman of the commission.


Pope Francis also drew criticism from Collins and others during the past week following reports that the pontiff had reduced punishments for several priests found guilty of abusing children, sentencing them to a lifetime of prayer instead of defrocking them.

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