Vatican report on abuse reveals challenges, including taboos

A large part of the report is devoted to a meticulous and critical study of the practices of the Church in Italy, a country that serves as a testing ground for measuring progress and resistance in the fight against abuse. Experts from this body, created in 2014, highlight the weight of persistent cultural taboos, which constitute an obstacle to victims speaking out and crimes being reported, in Africa, Asia, and Europe alike.

Pope Francis asked the Vatican commission responsible for promoting the fight against abuse — but without authority — to draw up an annual report. A first report published in the fall of 2024, which presented an examination of existing mechanisms in a selection of countries, was received with mixed reactions. The report was criticized in particular for its lack of severity and comprehensiveness.

The second 200-page report, which does not deal with specific cases of abuse, continues the global review of prevention policies, practices implemented, and shortcomings identified.

The most important section of the report (more than half of the document) examines the state of the fight against abuse in different countries. This year, the commission chose to study Italy closely, devoting 23 pages to it.

In this close-up observation of the peninsula, the commission does not hide the persistent gray areas: only 81 of 226 dioceses responded to the questionnaire, and only seven of 18 regional delegations made themselves available for a meeting.

Overall, the commission notes “substantial cultural resistance in Italy to addressing abuse,” pointing to “cultural taboos” that prevent victims from speaking out about their experiences and reporting them. It also laments the lack of equipment and resources, seeing this as “a serious implementation risk” to the success of the fight. Dioceses that have not yet responded should “offer their input in the coming months,” warns the Vatican commission.

The text makes no fewer than 15 recommendations to the country as a whole, then considers the cases of Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Sardinia, Sicily, Emilia-Romagna, and Tuscany. In the latter, as in Liguria, the commission urges the bishops not to “interpret the low number of reported cases as a sign that there is no abuse.”

It also warns against “a sense of discouragement” in the effort to eradicate this scourge.

The commission also focuses on the case of Rome, the pope's diocese, noting “concerns” about the “cultural taboos that exist around abuse.” The commission recommends in particular for this diocese the creation of a “more systematic structure to offer training on safeguarding” for seminarians and foreign priests coming to Rome for their studies.

At a midday press conference, when asked about this focus on Italy, Vatican commission officials emphasized that the same elements of “cultural resistance” could be found in many other countries. They acknowledged, as did Secretary Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, that the report had “limitations” and that there was still a long way to go to achieve zero tolerance.

In the third part of the report, which provides a brief overview of the continents, France is cited as “at the forefront of integrating civil and canon law.” The memoranda of understanding between dioceses and public prosecutors in France, which ensure that cases of sexual abuse are reported to the civil authorities, are presented as an example.

The document also cites the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) and the mechanisms for redress and compensation put in place by the Church in France. It sees these measures as a “holistic approach to justice and healing.” 

This mention is not insignificant, since the new president of the commission since last July is a Frenchman, Archbishop Thibault Verny. According to Vatican News, the Archbishop of Chambéry saw his appointment as “a form of recognition of the work done by the Church in France” following the CIASE investigation.

In addition, the report cites the results of the audit of the Paris Foreign Missions, published in December 2024, which, according to Vatican experts, marks their “commitment to reparations through recognition and transparency.” The study revealed 63 allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by priests of the congregation between 1950 and 2024, but shortcomings were pointed out in the audit.

The Vatican report also covers other countries in Africa (Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea Conakry, Mozambique, Lesotho, Namibia, North Africa, Mali, Kenya), Asia (Japan and Korea), and Europe (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Portugal, Slovakia, Malta, Greece). No countries in the Americas or Oceania are studied, as the countries chosen are those that made ad limina visits — visits by bishops to Rome — in 2024 and received a questionnaire from the commission in this context.

In Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, the commission is concerned about “anti-gay sentiment in society and the marginalization of potential victims/survivors who were abused by a perpetrator of the same sex.”

Faced with serious shortcomings in terms of reporting and cooperation with the authorities in civil and canonical proceedings, the commission encourages the adoption of the Memorare initiative, a mechanism providing assistance, including financial assistance, for the protection and support of victims. This advice is addressed to all African countries, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece.

In some African countries, the report recommends the implementation of an emotional education program in Catholic schools and training for clergy on healthy relationships. It also wishes to encourage non-financial reparations initiatives. It should be noted that in Japan, the text pays tribute to the commitment of the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Francisco Escalante Molina, in the fight against the abuse of minors.

For each of these countries, the commission also cites external contributions, media outlets, or organizations that have published denunciations or expressed concern. In passing, it criticizes UNICEF, stating that it wanted to consult its data but lamented the difficulty of this procedure. The use of external references is a new feature of this report, as the authors realized that it was necessary to diversify the sources, according to Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera.

After the national reports, two religious congregations are examined. The Montfortains, founded in France, which has 1,145 members, are targeted for shortcomings in the legal and regulatory framework, governance, human resources, and prevention. The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, with 395 members, denounced shortcomings in terms of victim support and procedural transparency.

In this report, the members of the commission finally focus in particular on the dicastery for Evangelization and the section headed by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle since 2019. The section for first evangelization oversees 1,200 ecclesiastical districts, mainly covering Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

The commission states from the outset that the dicastery audited has only a “small number of cases of abuse” to deal with because the bishops under this department must send their cases to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The authors report that in 2024, the section headed by the Filipino cardinal dealt with only “two cases of negligence” involving bishops. According to a rule imposed under Pope Francis — Vos estis lux mundi — the dicastery for the Evangelization of Peoples assumes certain legal and administrative responsibilities concerning cases of abuse or negligence on the part of bishops under its jurisdiction.

In the report, the authors also point out difficulties related to “overlapping responsibilities between several dicasteries.” These can create confusion and delays. Furthermore, the section examined has “only one official” dedicated to supporting the fight against abuse, “with a very broad portfolio to cover.” The commission also points to the lack of resources allocated to checking the backgrounds of candidates for the episcopate.

[Edit: In the 21st paragraph, the article erroneously stated that the Missionary Sisters of Africa had "been accused of" shortcomings; the text has been corrected to say they have "denounced shortcomings." We apologize to our readers for the error.]