Vatican sex abuse board calls for victim compensation

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has criticized the Catholic Church’s poor handling of clergy misconduct cases

Pope Francis’ child protection board has called for greater transparency from the Vatican office responsible for processing clergy sex abuse complaints, as well as public apologies and financial compensation for victims, in an attempt to address the crisis in the ranks of the Catholic Church.

In its pilot annual report, issued on Tuesday, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said the victims of clerical abuse should have greater access to information about their cases and that a clear policy on compensation was needed.

The commission also claimed that the Vatican office’s slow processing of cases and secrecy were retraumatizing to victims, while its refusal to publicly share full statistical information on its activities continues “to foment distrust among the faithful, especially the victim/survivor community.” 

The report said that “civil and canonical processes can be difficult, slow, and even a source of ongoing victimization.” It also stressed that victims should have the right to compensation for their abuse, including financial reparations, and “it is important for survivors to be properly heard, accompanied, and supported.”

The commission presented a series of findings from around the world and made relevant recommendations for safeguarding minors. It cautioned that progress on the issue varied significantly around the world, noting that church abuse was not yet a “publicized issue” in some societies and warned that protections in parts of Central and South America, Africa and Asia were “inadequate.” It also proposed a special Vatican advocate or ombudsman to look after victims’ needs.

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The Roman Catholic Church has been shaken by clergy sex abuse scandals across the world for decades. In 2023, a year-long study of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and others in Switzerland found more than 1,000 such cases since the mid-20th century.

In 2021, a bombshell report by the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) showed that as many as 330,000 children may have been sexually abused by clergy and lay people in France from the 1950s to 2020.

Pope Francis created the commission for protecting minors in 2014, a year after his election. In 2019, he lifted a so-called ‘pontifical secrecy’ rule regarding clergy sexual abuse of minors.

One advocacy group that tracks abusers responded to the new report by saying the commission’s latest findings were “hampered by their limited purpose.”

“The only safeguarding test that matters is whether bishops are removing abusers,” Anne Barrett Boyle told the Associated Press, stating that the report “doesn’t give any measure of that, because the commission itself is powerless to do so.”