By Alvise Armellini
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Catholic Church needs to unify policies on compensating victims of sexual abuse by clergy, the Vatican’s child protection commission said in its first annual report on Tuesday.
For decades, the Church has been shaken by scandals across the world involving paedophile priests and the cover-up of their crimes, damaging its credibility and costing it hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.
The commission stressed “the importance of compensation for victims/survivors, as a concrete commitment to their healing journey”, and pledged to work “so that standardised and known procedures are developed in a more comprehensive way”.
It said compensation was not only financial, “but embraces a much broader spectrum of actions … such as acknowledging mistakes, public apologies, and other forms of true fraternal closeness to victims/survivors and their communities”.
It added it would delve deeper into the issue of reparations in its report next year.
Pope Francis faced some of the strongest criticism yet levied against him over clergy abuse during a September visit to Belgium, where both the country’s king and prime minister called for more concrete actions for victims.
This month, a Vatican summit of world bishops ended on Saturday with a final text apologising several times for the “untold and ongoing” pain suffered by Catholics who were abused by clergy.
Tuesday’s report also called for more transparency, with victims given greater access to documents concerning them, a clearer division of roles between Vatican departments dealing with abuse, and more effective punishment of offenders.
It noted that past “actions and/or inactions” by Church leaders “have been the source of additional harm to victims/survivors of sexual abuse”, revealing the need for “a disciplinary or administrative proceeding that provides an efficient path for resignation or removal from office”.
The Vatican anti-abuse commission was established by Francis in 2013 and was the first of its kind. It has faced sharp criticism from abuse survivors, who say it has not implemented effective reforms to protect children.
(Additional reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Helen Popper)
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