Vatican launches website for preventing clerical sex abuse

SOURCE 

A beta version of a new website featuring resources for the prevention of clerical sexual abuse around the world made its debut on Tuesday, launched by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors created by Pope Francis and led by Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston.

The site includes a template for anti-abuse guidelines each local church was asked to produce back in 2011, under emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.
The site, conceived as a way to share the knowledge and resources the commission has on safeguarding children and caring for survivors, is currently only available in English, but with other major languages following soon.
 

Emer McCarthy, project manager of the papal commission, told Crux that Spanish is the next goal, followed by French, and eventually Italian, German and Portuguese.
Although the website has a focus on sharing the commission’s activities, McCarthy underlined that it’s not a PR exercise but a tool that will “hopefully help people.”
The guidelines referred to on the site were requested through a 2011 Circular Letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent to all the bishops in the world. However, some dioceses and bishops conferences, particularly in developing countries, haven’t yet produced them.
According to the commission’s website, the template is also a response to a second circular letter, this time from 2015, signed by Francis.
In it, the pontiff said the commission can be “a new, important and effective means for helping me to encourage and advance the commitment of the Church at every level – Episcopal Conferences, Dioceses, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and others – to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults.”
The website takes into account the requests of the original circular letter, adding the work that’s already being done by several bishops’ conferences, including the United States.
For the past year or so, the commission has been working in small groups, each focusing on different aspects related to the protection of minors and young adults from sexual abuse:

• Healing and care for victim/survivors and their families.
• Comprehensive guidelines in local Churches.
• Education of Church leadership and ecclesial communities.
• Initial and ongoing formation for clergy and religious in the protection of minors.
• Theology and spirituality.
• Canonical and civil norms governing the protection of minors.