Pope appoints four women to Vatican commission on sex abuse
A woman who was abused by a hospital chaplain has been appointed to a new Vatican commission created to root out paedophilia in the Church, the Vatican said on Saturday. In December Pope Francis announced that he was going to set up the commission. On Saturday the Vatican announced the names of the first eight members. They are:
Marie Collins, an Irish abuse survivor who has been an outspoken campaigner for the rights of victims; psychiatrists Catherine Bonnet, from France, and Sheila Hollins, from Britain; Hanna Suchocka, the former Polish prime minister who has been an ambassador to the Holy See for more than ten years; the Archbishop of Boston, Sean Patrick O'Malley, who has been a vocal spokesman for US victims, Italian lawyer Claudio Papale, an expert in canon law; the Argentinean Jesuit theologian Miguel Yanez, long-time friend of Pope Francis, and Fr Hans Zollner, a German Jesuit psychologist and psychotherapist.
"The main objective of these people will be to prepare the statutes of the Commission and to define its powers and duties" said the statement. More members from other parts of the world will be appointed to the commission later, the Vatican said.
Source: VIS