Vatican City, 22 March 2014 (VIS) –
The Holy Father has instituted the Pontifical Commission for the
Protection of Minors, as announced on 5 December 2013, and has
invited the following people to be members: Catherine Bonnet, France;
Marie Collins, Ireland; Sheila Hollins, United Kingdom; Cardinal Sean
Patrick O'Malley O.F.M. Cap., United States; Claudio Papale, Italy;
Hanna Suchocka, Poland; Humberto Miguel Yanez S.J., Argentina; and
Hans Zollner, S.J., Germany.
Their principal task will be to prepare
the Commission's statutes, which will define its competence and
functions. The Commission will subsequently be joined by other
members, nominated from various geographical areas of the world.
Marie Collins, who suffered sexual
abuse as a child and brought the priest responsible to justice in
1997, is the co-founder of the Marie Collins Foundation, an NGO
providing help and legal assistance to victims of abuse and their
families. Sheila Hollins is emeritus professor of Psychiatry and
former president of the British Medical Assocation. Cardinal Sean
Patrick O'Malley O.F.M. Cap. is archbishop of Boston, U.S.A., and is
well-known for his efforts for the protection of childhood and is a
member of the Apostolic Visitation of dioceses and seminaries in
Ireland in 2010. Claudio Papale is a lawyer and professor in the
faculty of canon law at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome.
Hanna Suchocka, former prime minister of Poland (1992-1993), is a
professor at the University of Poznan, specialising in constitutional
law, and the author of various texts on human rights. The Jesuit Fr.
Manuel Yanez is professor of moral theology at the Pontifical
Gregorian and Urbaniana Universities. Fr. Hans Zollner,S.J.,
psychotherapist and psychologist, is the academic vice-rector of the
Pontifical Gregorian University, director of the Institute of
Psychology, and chair of the Steering Committee of the Institute's
“Centre for Child Protection”.
The director of the Holy See Press
Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., commented that by the institution
of this Commission, Pope Francis has made it clear that the Church
considers the protection of minors as a priority issue. “In the
certainty that the Church must play a crucial role in this field, and
looking to the future without forgetting the past, the Commission
will adopt a multiple approach to promoting the protection of minors,
which will include education for the prevention of the exploitation
of children, legal procedures relating to offences against minors,
civil and canonical duties and responsibilities, and the development
of 'best practices' as defined and developed in society as a whole”.
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