Vatican safeguarding body meets with doctrine dicastery during plenary

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican’s safeguarding commission has “an opportunity and obligation to make the church a more Samaritan church,” Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, told commission members during its plenary assembly.

According to an Oct. 17 statement by the commission, 30 of its expert members and personnel met with officials from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to discuss safeguarding procedures during the commission’s Oct. 7-11 plenary assembly in Rome.

The commission said it met with Archbishop John Kennedy, secretary of the discipline section for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Jesuit Father Robert Geisinger, the dicastery’s promoter of justice; and Father Brian Taylor, an official at the dicastery.

During the meeting the commission “addressed current procedures in confronting sexual abuse in the Church, as well as safeguarding guideline development,” it said. “The engagement during the Plenary Assembly was an expression of the unity of efforts in the work of prevention and provided an opportunity to explore ongoing collaboration between the Dicastery and Commission.”

The commission was placed within the scope of the dicastery in Pope Francis’ 2022 apostolic constitution “Praedicate Evangelium” (“Preach the Gospel”).

In March, the pope made new appointments to the commission including Colombian Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera as the commission’s secretary and Teresa Kettelkamp, a former colonel with the Illinois State Police, as adjunct secretary.

The commission said it also discussed the development of its inaugural report on safeguarding policies and procedures in the church, requested by the pope in 2022, and it reviewed the working document for the next report covering 2024-2025.

The goal of the report “is to provide an assessment of the nature and effectiveness of safeguarding policies and procedures in the Church and offer recommendations for continuous improvement,” the commission said. “It is hoped that the report will serve as a mechanism for sustainable and verifiable change in the Catholic Church’s approach to the ministry of safeguarding.”

During its plenary assembly the commission evaluated outcomes from meetings with 13 national bishops’ conferences during their “ad limina” visits to Rome over the last six months, which it said served as “an opportunity to learn about local safeguarding procedures and to identify those local churches that lack the necessary resources to provide adequate care.”

Those meetings allowed the commission to assess its “Memorare Initiative” — a safeguarding capacity building program — which “focuses on helping local churches to establish structures for receiving and managing complaints in a transparent and accountable manner and providing professional assistance for people harmed by abuse,” it said.

The initiative is currently active in bishops’ conferences and conferences of religious institutes across Latin America, Africa and Asia while 12 more local churches are in the process of establishing its program, the commission said.

“While not all our goals have yet been achieved, we will continue to press for reform where we identify systemic failures,” Cardinal O’Malley told the commission during the assembly. “Our efforts have made a significant difference and perhaps most importantly are a sign of hope and solidarity for those who have suffered abuse and for their loved ones.”

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