Vatican releases 1st report on fight against abuse in the Church 

After working for two years, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors published its first report on the state of the fight against abuse in the Catholic Church on October 29, 2024. What emerged from this 95-page document -- which gives no figures on the number of victims or guilty clergy members -- is an apparent slowness in local Churches in implementing safeguarding procedures and an opacity in the handling of cases, particularly in Rome. 

This is what Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley told the victims of abuse at the start of a press conference held at the Vatican to present the report. As the President of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, he immediately acknowledged the limitations of this report, the first in history. 

“All of us have felt that frustration of the slowness of change coming about. But we believe that the change is taking place, and we feel as though our obligation is to continue to work for it, even though it is often an uphill climb,” said Cardinal O’Malley, who has become the linchpin of the fight against sexual abuse of minors in the Church.

He was nominated as Archbishop of Boston in 2003, shortly after the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team had published its investigation into the diocese’s pedophile priests, prompting the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law.

Cardinal O'Malley highlighted that this report “is a snapshot of the journey of conversion that [the Church has] been on” towards greater transparency, accountability, and safeguarding.

The 80-year-old American Cardinal came to present the report, that had been commissioned two years earlier by Pope Francis. The Pontiff's instructions were simple: “to furnish a reliable account on what is presently being done and what needs to change” in the fight against abuse in the Church. 

In the Pope's mind at the time, this annual “clear audit” was intended to compel the Church to transparency and action.

“The Annual Report is a tool of conversional justice,” insisted Maud De Boer Buquicchio, a Dutch-Italian jurist in charge of the report. From 2014 to 2020 she was the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children and President of ECPAT, an association fighting child pornography, prostitution and trafficking. 

The around 100-page document is a “pilot,” its authors insisted. It does not aim to analyze all the procedures in place around the world. 

For this first edition, only 17 countries are briefly presented. The report outlines the protection challenges faced by these local churches, and proposes a number of recommendations. According to its agenda, after five or six annual reports, the commission will have examined the entire Catholic Church. 

In addition to the local Churches, the authors have focused on two departments of the Roman Curia, the Holy See’s administrative institutions.

Whether in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith - responsible for judging the most serious abuses - or in the Dicastery for the Clergy - which looks after over 400,000 priests - the authors point to a lack of transparency and speed in dealing with abuse cases, and shortcomings in terms of prevention.  

The members of the commission would like to see better coordination, so that the various ecclesiastical levels can truly be at the service of victims. Among their recommendations, they believe that the Pope's drafting of an encyclical on the protection of minors and vulnerable people would be a powerful act to unify the fight against abuse. 

I.MEDIA takes a closer look at the findings of this first report. 

The Commission notes that the situation in the local churches varies widely. The term "local churches" refers mainly to individual dioceses. Some are strongly committed to the struggle, while others are “only at the beginning,” with “a troubling lack of reporting structures and victim/survivor accompaniment services.” 

The Commission focuses in greater detail on four bishops' conferences in four geographical regions: Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Belgium, and Cameroon. For each, it explains how it went about in its investigation and reports on the mechanisms in place. 

In Mexico, only 20 bishops responded - 20% of the country's 98 dioceses. While the Vatican commission welcomes the steps taken - such as having a unit for the protection of minors in every diocese - it “notes significant cultural barriers to reporting abuse that prevent the process of justice.” The Commission highlights in particular the difficult relations with civil authorities, the lack of funding and training, and shortcomings in monitoring. 

In Papua New Guinea, too, the commission underlines the lack of financial resources, experts, diocesan structures, support and consideration for victims, and the absence of agreements with civil authorities. The commission notes a “persistent gap” in “timely and reliable victim/survivor accompaniment services at the local Church level.” 

Belgium - which the Pope visited in late September - is not spared either. The Commission emphasizes that the “mismanagement and inaction” from Church leaders has “had a strong impact on the Church’s engagement with young people and its ability to minister to them, due to a breakdown in trust among the faithful and broader society.”

Additionally the commission calls for better supervision of Belgian priests on mission abroad and foreign priests on Belgian soil, pointing to the latter's “resistance” to the concept of safeguarding. It notes that reports “can be hard to navigate, especially for the public” and asks to be involved in their revision, while also recommending “compulsory” training for lay people working in Catholic bodies.

Finally, in Cameroon, the Commission highlighted the shortages of financial and human resources, preventing the implementation of “robust” mechanisms. It also recognized the “strong social pressures” that hinder reporting, noting “a culture of silence and taboo around sexual abuse.” 

Among the 13 other countries studied, in Rwanda the Commission “did not note an audit mechanism in place and encourages the development of such a mechanism.” In Côte d'Ivoire the Commission highlighted a “lack of data” on sexual abuse and a lack of safeguarding structures. In Sri Lanka, the instruments for combating abuse are not up to date.

In Colombia, where half the bishops responded, “the Commission noted an earnest reflection on the part of the bishops regarding their shortcomings and the breakdown of their protocols, which has led to much pain for victims/survivors.” The Commission called for the creation of an “an organized victim/survivor advocacy group” that can work to address shortcomings and create better policies, but noted several good local practices and reporting systems. 

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the report explains that the bishops highlighted “a broader societal stigma around safeguarding as an imposed Western ideology that does not respond to African challenges.” The Commission did not receive a response to the five-year questionnaire sent out prior to the bishops' visit to Rome. However the document states that “responses are said to be forthcoming.” 

The Commission regrets not having met the bishops of Burundi on the occasion of their ad limina visit to Rome, but welcomes the quality of their report, and looks forward to working with them in the future. A call for greater awareness was made for other countries mentioned, such as Togo, South Africa and Zambia. In Ghana, the Commission expresses its concern about “strong anti-gay taboos and proposed legislation in Ghana, which often can create a barrier to victims/survivors in reporting same-sex abuse.” 

“The Commission found a persistent concern regarding the transparency in the Roman Curia’s procedures and juridical processes,” the document explains, noting that this “will continue to foment distrust among the faithful, especially the victim/survivor community.” 

The report takes a closer look at the attitude of two of the Holy See's administrative institutions with regards to safeguarding. The first is the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), which is made up of a doctrinal section - which ensures respect for the Catholic faith - and a disciplinary section. The latter deals with the world's most serious abuse offenses, such as clergy assaults on minors or vulnerable people.

The Commission writes that some bishops, such as the Mexican Bishops' Conference, have expressed concern at the slowness of the DDF's procedures. “Waiting without information and updates can be a source of re-traumatisation for victims,” the Commission report explains. 

Often criticized for its slow, opaque procedures, the disciplinary section has just 20 employees who have to deal with the new cases of serious abuse committed in the Church every year. According to I.MEDIA’s information, 1,200 new cases were reported to Rome in 2019, and 1,100 in 2020. An employee of the dicastery could therefore have around 60 new cases a year to investigate, accumulating up to 150 cases. 

According to I.MEDIA’S information, 60% of the cases handled by the section concern sexual abuse of minors, meaning over 500 a year. Most of these cases come from regions where people are more aware of the phenomenon: North America, Latin America, and Europe. "Africa is lagging far behind. And Asia even more so,” a specialist on the subject told I.MEDIA. 

In its report, the Commission confirms this trend in its own way: “a significant part of Central and South America, Africa, and Asia have inadequate dedicated resources” to combat abuse within the Church. 

The Commission also criticizes the lack of transparency regarding the Dicastery's activities. Normally, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith never makes its judicial decisions public, but communicates them confidentially to the diocese of the cleric concerned. The report does not question this principle of subsidiarity, but considers it “useful” to explore ways to increase transparency.  

Among their recommendations, the authors call for a greater collaboration between their Commission and the Dicastery. The Commission for the Protection of Minors is officially attached to the DDF, but is independent. According to I.MEDIA’s information, the two entities work very little together. The report recommends synergy between prevention efforts (mainly carried out by the Commission) and discipline (undertaken by the DDF). 

The Commission also studied the Dicastery for the Clergy, which oversees the more than 400,000 Catholic priests worldwide. While this department is not responsible for judging clerics accused of abusing minors, it does have a decisive role in the discernment of seminarians, training, and prevention. 

The Commission notes shortcomings in the selection procedures for candidates to the priesthood, with psychological assessments which, when they indicate risks, are said in some cases to be underestimated. Like the Synod on Synodality, which ended this month in Rome, the Commission recommends the involvement of lay professionals. 

Those who form seminarians should also receive adequate preparation to accompany future priests in recognizing the risks of abuse and in knowing the appropriate codes of conduct. “These codes should be on public display within the seminary grounds,” the report encourages. 

Another recommendation: Each seminary should identify a person qualified to receive suspicions and reports of abuse on a confidential basis. 

The commission also urges the Dicastery for the Clergy to draw inspiration from the safeguarding standards defined by the Commission. “All Dicastery personnel, with priority given to those who may receive reports of reserved delicts, should receive appropriate training on how to treat and respond appropriately to victims/survivors,” the report explains.

Once again, the Commission points out that responding to people who have suffered abuse is “an urgent need.” 

“The lack of knowledge of actions taken in a particular case is often a primary source of re-traumatisation,” the Commission insists. In the Catholic Church, victims are sometimes not informed of the sanctions taken against their abuser. 

At the Roman Curia level, the commission proposes the creation of a “procurator” and an ombudsman - equivalent to the European Union's Ombudsman - to ensure better access for victims to the progress of their case.