German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner, who was one of the Pope’s confidants in handling child sex abuse cases in the Catholic Church, has resigned as a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. 2014 at the direct initiative of Francisco.
In A note posted on TwitterHans Zollner said his resignation was accepted by the Pope on March 14, justifying his removal from the post he had held for the past nine years, and that, in his view, the Commission is failing in its duty. Transparency and Accountability.
“There is a lack of clarity about the selection process for members and staff and their roles and responsibilities,” alleged one of the top experts on safeguarding and protecting minors in the church. “I am equally concerned about the lack of financial transparency, which I feel is not enough. It is necessary for the commission to clearly show how funds are being used within the scope of its mandate,” he added.
In an unusually harsh tone, Hans Zollner argues that there should be more transparency about the decision-making process within the Commission and that the information shared with members regarding specific decisions is “unclear and insufficient”.
Finally, criticizing the lack of any regulation regulating relations between the Commission and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, to whose premises the Commission moved in June, Hans Zollner says he wants to devote himself to his new role as adviser. The Diocese of Rome will “make the world a better place for children and vulnerable adults”, meaning that it will not abandon the constant struggle through academic research on this subject, but will link to the direction of the respective Anthropological Institute.
Created in 2014, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is headed by American Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, one of Pope Francis’ closest advisers, and emerged as part of the Catholic Church’s efforts to tackle the scandal. With the specific task of presenting initiatives capable of ensuring the safety of children and vulnerable adults within the Church.
In April of last year, the Pope announced that the Commission would become part of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and as he noted at the time, the members of this body would not affect its independence. Proceed to answer directly in front of you. It was simply a question of preventing the Commission from continuing to function as a “satellite” with no relation to the organizational chart of the Roman Curia.
According to the Vatican News website, O’Malley accepted the German Jesuit’s resignation, thanked him for his “years of service” and praised his role in a summit the pope convened in 2019 to discuss the sex abuse crisis.
In February, when Went to Portugal In an interview to attend the presentation of a report on the sexual abuse of children in the Portuguese Catholic Church over the past 72 years, Hans Zollner took the opportunity to advise the church order to invest more seriously in supporting victims and their families. And he expressed his astonishment at the fact that the Italian Church has not yet conducted a historical study of the sexual abuse of minors at the hands of Italian clergy.
Before that, in May 2021, Zollner went to Fatima to warn that the Portuguese Church needed a new mindset on the issue of sexual abuse, accusing the bishops of restricting themselves from complying with the norms. The words did not fall on deaf ears, because a year later the bishops announced their desire to promote a historical study of cases of sexual abuse of children in the context of the Church, whose report, presented in February of this year, showed that at least 4815 children had been sexually abused in the past 72 years from 1950 to the present.
A few days later, Seán O’Malley issued a statement praising the work of the independent commission, offering to assist the Portuguese bishops in the necessary reflection on the recommendations made in the “Voice for Peace” report.
“Hardcore explorer. Extreme communicator. Professional writer. General music practitioner. Prone to fits of apathy.”