ITALY: Four-day symposium "Towards Healing and Renewal" brings together leading church figures, victims of abuse and psychologists as the Vatican works to prevent future sexual abuse of minors by the clergy

Record ID: 334659

  • Title: ITALY: Four-day symposium "Towards Healing and Renewal" brings together leading church figures, victims of abuse and psychologists as the Vatican works to prevent future sexual abuse of minors by the clergy
  • Date: 7th February 2012
  • Summary: SLATE INFORMATION
  • Embargoed: 22nd February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Religion,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVABERP0VRT3R8PW3WISRLTUMXHP
  • Story Text: A four-day symposium opened at the Jesuit Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on Monday (February 6) with an aim to preventing sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.
    Called "Towards Healing and Renewal," it brings together some 200 people including bishops, leaders of religious orders, victims of abuse and psychologists.
    The participants will discuss how the worldwide Catholic Church can become more aware of the problem, make a commitment to listen to victims and prevent future cases of abuse.
    "I think that this symposium is very important because this (is a) possibilty to connect us within the Catholic Church over the continent and so it's a big advantage which we have in the Catholic Church to share experience on this big theme of sexual abuse", said Stephan Ackermann, Bishop of Trier, responsible for the questions of sexual abuse of the German Bishops' Conference.
    The Vatican has for years been struggling to control the damage that sexual abuse scandals in the United States and several European countries, including Pope Benedict's native Germany, have done to the Church's image.
    Groups representing abuse victims say the Church must do more to own up to the past, when known paedophile priests were shuttled from parish to parish instead of being defrocked or turned over to authorities. It must also make greater efforts to prevent future cases, they say, accusing the Church and the Vatican of a cover-up.
    The first person to address the conference will be Irish abuse victim Marie Collins.
    "Every child safe from abuse in the future is really a life saved and as a survivor I don't want to see any child go through the same as I have myself and that is the way most survivors feel so this is an extremely important event for everybody, for the church and for survivors as well, and for the future," she said.
    At the symposium, the Church will unveil ways it plans to turn to the Internet with a new e-learning centre to help safeguard children and the victims of molestation.
    The learning centre will work with medical institutions and universities to develop what the Church hopes will be a constant response to the problems of sexual abuse.
    It will be posted in German, English, French, Spanish and Italian and help bishops and other church workers put into place Vatican guidelines to protect children.
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