Child sex abuse: Vatican’s commission to release its first annual report next week

The pope’s commission on clerical child sex abuse said Friday it will publish its first annual report next week, a decade after the body was established.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said the report coming on Tuesday would be a “first step” documenting “where risks remain, and where advances can be found”.

Pope Francis set up the panel of experts in December 2014 amid an avalanche of revelations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy across the world, and subsequent cover-ups.

But it has faced strong criticism over its organisation, funding and role, with numerous high-profile members quitting.

In 2022, Francis incorporated the body into the Roman Curia — the government of the Holy See — and asked for an annual, “reliable account on what is presently being done and what needs to change”.

Next week’s report “collects resources and good practices to be shared across the Universal Church, and makes specific recommendations to promote further progress in safeguarding”, the commission said in a statement Friday.

Maud de Boer Buquicchio, a Dutch lawyer and former UN special rapporteur on the sexual exploitation of children who chaired the report, said it addressed concerns about the “lack of data available”.

It would be a “tool for promoting a change of mindset” within the Church to embrace “accountability and transparency”, she said

The report will be divided into four areas — a review of safeguarding policies in 15 to 20 local churches each year, trends across continents, policies within the Vatican and the Church’s broader role in society.

Members of the commission are directly appointed by the pope and are experts in fields related to safeguarding, from clinical psychology to law as well as human rights.

But the body has been plagued by difficulties from its early years, with two members representing abuse survivors resigning in 2017.

In March 2023, influential German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner also quit, complaining about “structural and practical issues”.

Francesco Zanardi, founder of Italian survivors group Rete L’Abuso (The Abuse Network), told AFP at the time that the commission was “absolutely useless”.