Pope Francis forms Child
Protection Task Force
Pope Francis bows his head in prayer during the Meeting for the Protection of Minors in the Church (Vatican Media) |
Following up on a plan announced at last year’s Meeting for
the Protection of Minors in the Church, Pope Francis has launched a task force
to help Bishops’ Conferences prepare and update child protection guidelines.
By Vatican News
Pope Francis has established a task force “in order to
assist the Episcopal Conferences in the preparation and updating of guidelines
for the protection of minors”. The intention to form such a group had already
been announced by the Pope at last year’s Meeting for the Protection of Minors
in the Church, which ran from 21-24 February 2019. One year later, after the
details of the project had been worked out, Pope Francis has made the plan a
reality.
Supervising committee
In a statement released on Friday, the Holy See Press Office
explained that the task force will be supervised by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra,
the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, together with
the members of the organizing Committee for last year’s Meeting: Cardinal
Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay; Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of
Chicago; Archbishop Charles Scicluna, Archbishop of Malta and Deputy Secretary
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and Father Hans Zollner, SJ,
Dean of the Institute of Psychology of the Pontifical Gregorian University and
member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Membership of the task force
The task force itself is composed of a Coordinator, Dr
Andrew Azzopardi, head of the Safeguarding Commission of the Maltese Bishops
(established by the Archdiocese of Malta, the Diocese of Gozo, and the Conference
of Religious Major Superiors); and a number of canon law experts of
different nationalities. The Coordinator will report quarterly to the
Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State on the work
undertaken by the task force.
Providing assistance to Episcopal Conferences
According to communiqué, the task force will assist
Episcopal Conferences, as well as Religious Institutes and Societies of
Apostolic Life, in preparing and updating guidelines for the protection of
minors, in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith and current canonical legislation, especially the motu
proprio Vos estis lux mundi.
The task force’s mandate will last for two years, beginning
24 February 2020. It will be supported by a special fund established by
benefactors.
Episcopal Conferences, Institutes of Religious, and
Societies of Apostolic Life can request assistance at the following email
address: taskforce@org.va.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét