VATICAN-CHILD ABUSE Accountability key in addressing child abuse in Catholic Church - cardinal

Record ID: 174436

  • Title: VATICAN-CHILD ABUSE Accountability key in addressing child abuse in Catholic Church - cardinal
  • Date: 16th February 2015
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (FEBRUARY 16, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PONTIFICAL GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY SIGN FOR UNIVERSITY VARIOUS OF CARDINAL SEAN PATRICK O'MALLEY FROM BOSTON, UNITED STATES, ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CARDINAL SEAN PATRICK O'MALLEY FROM BOSTON, UNITED STATES, SAYING: "Certainly one of the topics that the commission which the pontifical commission is dealing with, is accountability and this is something that we are very concerned about and right now working with canonists and theologians to try and come up with a very concrete plan to present to the Holy Father because obviously we are very concerned about the whole area of accountability." CRUCIFIX ON WALL MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) CARDINAL SEAN PATRICK O'MALLEY FROM BOSTON, UNITED STATES, SAYING: "The centre, like the pontifical commission is not really here to deal with individual cases but more with best practices and to try to train leadership and to present policies that would be effective. We are particularly interested in the centre because of their outreach to the church in the developing countries. We know that these are areas where the whole question of child abuse and the abuse of minors is not on people's radar screens. Having been a missionary bishop myself, as I tell people, when I started off in 1984 as a bishop in the West Indies, my annual diocese budget was 30,000 dollars a year. In mission countries there is quite limited resources and we would like to be able to address that by helping." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 3rd March 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADFAOK7GCYL81VR44VR5MHQAOA
  • Story Text: The Catholic Church must focus on accountability and education in order to prevent instances of child abuse, a cardinal heading the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said on Monday (February 16).
    "Certainly one of the topics that the commission which the pontifical commission is dealing with, is accountability and this is something that we are very concerned about and right now working with canonists and theologians to try and come up with a very concrete plan to present to the Holy Father because obviously we are very concerned about the whole area of accountability," said Cardinal O'Malley, during the opening of the Centre for Child Protection's new location in Rome.
    The world-wide scandal, which came to global prominence in Boston in 2001, has seen known abusers shunted from parish to parish instead of being defrocked and handed over to authorities.
    O'Malley said the commission will be in charge of presenting new and more effective policies, rather than dealing with individual cases of child abuse.
    "We are particularly interested in the centre because of their outreach to the church in the developing countries. We know that these are areas where the whole question of child abuse and the abuse of minors is not on people's radar screens. Having been a missionary bishop myself, as I tell people, when I started off in 1984 as a bishop in the West Indies my annual diocese budget was 30,000 dollars a year. In mission countries there is quite limited resources and we would like to be able to address that by helping," he added.
    Child abuse litigation has cost the Catholic Church some $3 billion (1.7 billion British pounds) in settlements in the United States alone and shaken the moral authority of leaders of the world's largest religious denomination.
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