Vatican anti-abuse body urges cardinals to make safeguarding a priority

Vatican anti-abuse body urges cardinals to make safeguarding a priority

ROME – Members of the Vatican’s child protection body have called on cardinals to make safeguarding a priority, regardless of status or reputation, as they elect the new pope amid a scandal involving the presence at pre-conclave meetings of a cardinal accused of and punished by Pope Francis for abuse. In a prayer published May 5 in English and Spanish, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) said that as the start of the co…

This time the issue of sexualised violence is very present in the election of the Pope. Cardinals themselves talk about it, even several Pope candidates accuse activists of misconduct in dealing with abuse cases.

Survivors Urge Cardinals to Discuss Sex Abuse Crisis in Choosing Next Pope

Pope Francis is credited with addressing the issue more strongly than his predecessors did, but clerical abuse remains a ruinous issue for the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinals are not the only ones who have arrived in Rome for the conclave to pick Pope Francis’ successor. Since Francis’ death last month, survivors of sexual abuse and those who monitor the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of abuse cases have also arrived, hoping to persuade cardi…

L. Moscoso / AFPAfter covering for decades sexual crimes against children by priests, the Catholic Church brings the issue to the center of the conclave to replace Pope Francis. Cardinals now place it among the main challenges of the replacement of the first Latin American Pope, who begins to choose behind closed doors in the Sistine Chapel on May 7. The Vatican reported in a statement that “evangelisation, the relationship with other religions …