More transparency needed on clerical resignations, says Vatican's safeguarding body
The second annual report from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors urges increasing accountability regarding the public life of clerics.
VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Greater transparency is needed when clerics resign, according to the Vatican’s own safeguarding commission today.
In the last few years, the resignation of a bishop as announced by the Holy See Press Office has been but a matter of a few words, with no explanation given for the decision. Was the resignation due to reaching the normal retirement age, ill health, or some more serious crisis? The Vatican would say nothing.
Prior to this, the brief Vatican bulletin had at least outlined if the bishop was resigning due to his age – the normal age for submitting resignation is 75 – or if it was because he had “become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause.” But even that was sub-optimal, with many commentators lamenting the fact that ill health was posited alongside “grave cause” – the latter of which could cover a range of issues, including serious misconduct.
Today, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) advocated for this to change and for more information to be given:
“In line with the lessons learned from the current study on reparations, the Commission underlines the importance of clearly communicating the reasons for resignation or removal, and issuing a public statement when these reasons are related to the abuse of minors or vulnerable adults, negligence, or less serious actions that nonetheless may have led to such a decision.”
Such words from the PCPM – established in 2014 at the behest of Pope Francis – as it published its second annual report regarding policies and procedures on safeguarding within the Catholic Church.
In light of some of the more high-profile abuse cases – such as that of Theodore McCarrick and Marcial Maciel – many Catholics have called for greater transparency regarding why bishops in particular resign. With rapidly increasing scrutiny into the question of abuse and cover-up, attention to the role of bishops in the matter has arguably never been higher, as also has the interest in the reasons for their standing aside from their see.
Indeed, following reported cover-up from the highest levels of the Vatican in relation to disgraced Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta and Father Marko Rupnik, such calls are not without good reason.
But operating under the umbrella of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and led by Prefect Archbishop Thibault Verny, the Commission merely provides advice and encouragement and stops short of being able to enforce changes in policy.
It remains to be seen what influence its pages have, barring exciting further interest from the secular media into the Vatican’s links, and response, to the crisis of abuse.
As with the first which came out last year, the PCPM’s report examined the policies of various bishops’ conferences following their Rome ad limina visits, along with an office of the Roman Curia – the Dicastery for Evangelization.
Since its inception 11 years ago, the PCPM has been famously plagued by allegations of being unable to effectively pursue its purpose. High profile members have resigned in previous years, citing cultural resistance to effecting change in the Vatican on the issue of abuse.
One of the most notable was Father Hans Zollner, S.J., who announced his departure from the commission in March 2023, and moved to the Diocese of Rome as a safeguarding consultant. The priest cited “issues that need to be urgently addressed and which have made it impossible for me to continue further” as part of the group.
Zollner also raised concerns about the PCPM’s link with the CDF, as he was “unaware of any regulations that govern the relationship between the commission and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.” The CDF’s disciplinary section is responsible for handling questions of abuse within the Church, making the PCPM’s alignment with it somewhat of an understandable move, but also one which is itself open to being abused.
At the launch of the inaugural report last October, then-prefect Cardinal Sean O’Malley said the Commission’s relationship with Zollner was positive.
Today’s new report continues the work begun last year, and will form part of the annual assessment into various episcopal conferences and offices of the Roman Curia.
As part of the latest text, the PCPM outlined six key areas in which it argued that the Church needed to improve. The Commission pointed to these as forming the basis for a potential vademecum which Church officials would utilize “in order to fulfil its fundamental obligations to victims/survivors.”
They are as follows:
Welcome, listen, and care: “Creating safe spaces where victims/survivors can share their experiences, including directly with Church authorities if they so desire.”
Communications, both public and private apologies: “Issuing official Church statements that acknowledge the harm caused and that assume responsibility on the part of the Church as a whole.”
Spiritual and psychotherapeutic support: “Guaranteeing access to professional counselling, spiritual accompaniment, and pastoral care, with special attention to victims/survivors over the long term.”
Financial support: “Providing adequate financial assistance to victims/survivors for costs incurred as a result of abuse, including medical and psychological care, as a vital element in the healing process.”
Institutional and disciplinary reforms: “Strengthening safeguards for the protection of minors and vulnerable adults, with meaningful sanctions for perpetrators and enablers of abuse.”
Safeguarding initiatives in the ecclesial community: “Implementing awareness programmes directed at clergy, religious, and lay faithful to foster a process of collective healing.”
Prefacing the report, Abp. Verny urged the implementation of more rigorous procedures to prevent abuse at each level of the Church, as “it is only when canonical procedures become incarnate in local realities — when policies translate into ongoing parish-level vigilance, formation in seminary, and religious houses — can a path of life be written.”
Pope Leo XIV was presented with a copy of the report prior to its public release.