Fr Zollner: Protection of
minors improving since last year’s summit
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| Pope Francis bows his head in prayer (Vatican Media) |
One year on from the “Protection of Minors in the Church”
Meeting, Father Hans Zollner describes the steps taken to listen to victims of
clerical sexual abuse and ensure that minors are safe in the Church.
By Vatican News
The summit on the protection of minors was held in the
Vatican on 21-24 February 2019, at the request of Pope Francis.
Presidents of Bishops’ Conference around the world were on
hand for the Meeting, where abuse survivors were able to tell their stories.
Fr Hans Zollner, a member of the Pontifical Commission for
the Protection of Minors and president of the Centre for Child Protection at
the Pontifical Gregorian University, spoke to Vatican Radio about the steps
taken since then to prevent abuse.
Q: Father Zollner, one year ago the summit on the
protection of minors was held in the Vatican what concrete actions and
decisions have been taken since then and what is changed in the Church's
approach to the issue.
First of all, we have had a number of changes in the law of
the Church. Most of them have been introduced by the new law with the title
“You are the Light of the World”.
From the 1st of June 2019 all dioceses are now obliged to
establish an office for reporting abuse and for intervention and prevention.
All religious and priests are obliged to report cases of abuse to the
ecclesiastical authorities, and we have, for the first time, something like the
setting up of a system of accountability in cases of negligence or of cover-up
of cases by Bishops or by religious leaders of religious communities or other
Church organizations.
So this was a major change that was accompanied by three
other points that the Pope decided in December: that the age for child sexual
exploitation material was raised from 14 to 18, and that pontifical secret was
abolished in regards to those cases, that is, no Bishop or Provincial can hide
behind what is called the political secret. So a level of confidentiality
around documents that some took as a pretext for not cooperating with state
authorities. That is gone now.
And thirdly we have a change also in so far as lay
canonists, so lay people who are experts in Canon Law, are involved in
canonical processes, at least to some degree. At the same time we have seen a
change of attitude – at least I can also testify that I've seen that happening
during the meeting of February when Bishops and other church leaders talked
about child protection and met with survivors of clerical sexual abuse. They
were deeply impressed. Many of them were in tears when they greeted those abuse
victims after they had shared their stories with them. I know from my own
experience in talking to a number Bishops’ Conferences around the world that
the Presidents came back to their Bishops’ Conference and shared that
experience.
I can see that in many parts of the world there is now a
deeper awareness and a greater willingness to really tackle the issue and to do
what needs to be done so that young people and vulnerable adults are safer in
our Church.
Q: The Church has received much praise for the courage
and transparency shown during and after this summit, but there are also those
who have criticized her because they would like more courage and more
transparency. How would you respond?
As we have seen the Pope has been pushing and, in terms of
timing, we finished that meeting on the 24th of February and on
the 1st of June we had a new universal law. In terms of the normal Vatican
speed of decision-making and propagation, this is lightning speed and I really
see also that the Holy Father is continuing his effort. He will not stop.
We saw a first change in March with new laws for the Vatican
City State then a universal law for the whole Church in June. We had the three
decisions that I mentioned before in December. So I really see that the Holy
Father is continuously pushing forward, and I believe that this is a process
that can't be stopped. We will certainly have more and more of such steps.
It doesn't happen all at the same time – that is true – but
at the same time I believe it really shows that the Pope and many around him,
and more and more people in the whole church who are responsible at the local
levels understand that this is not something that will go away, and that it is
not only a sign of a media attack. But it is a real necessity to continuously
work and to be more and more consistent in what we say: that children and
vulnerable people should be safe in our midst.
At the same time that we have the necessity to understand
better to really implement the new laws and to be able to contribute also to a
safer society at large.
Q: Currently, there is also the question of the abuse of
religious sisters. What could you say about this issue, and above all what can
be done about it?
The most important thing that we need to learn – and I would
say many have learned – is that victims need to be listened to.
By listening I mean that you sit down with a person
and you let the person share whatever she or he wants to share and in whatever
way, with all the anger, bitterness, and with the rage and with the sadness
that is connected. This is important so that victims can feel and realize that
those who listen to them -- Church authorities, Bishops, Provincials, whoever
that is, and with whomever they want to speak and share – that they are really
listened to.
The second thing is that from that experience we learn that
whoever is responsible for a certain diocese or a certain province or a certain
institution does whatever he or she can, so that the whole structure, the
organizational aspect, the systemic aspects is helping that institution so that
people can not only feel safe, but also that they are safe enough, and that we
really understand the dynamics of relationships.
Now in this case – in the relationship between a religious
sister and a Bishop or a Provincial or a priest, either a religious priest or a
diocesan priest – that there are levels of dependency, and there are boundaries
that need to be kept.
We need to realize that this kind of safety and professional
standards – as it is called in the Anglo-phone world – needs to be not only
taught and understood better but certainly also implemented. And, in case of
violations, punished as any other transgression would be punished in that
regard.
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