By Hannah Brockhaus

Vatican City, November 13, 2024 / 1:05 p.m.

Catholic leaders from across Europe are in Rome this week to discuss how the Church can best protect children from sexual abuse and how to help those who have already been harmed by it.

The Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) is organizing a conference on the protection of minors in the Catholic Church in Europe from November 13 to 15.

The meeting, which takes place in the center of Rome, at the headquarters of the PCPM, brings together participants – bishops, priests, religious, laity and laity – from 25 European countries.

Safeguarding practices and strategies, how Church law and civil law interact, how to better help victims and how to develop safeguarding networks are some of the topics covered by the conference.

Vatican leaders and representatives of the Commission of European Bishops’ Conferences (COMECE) are also participating in the meeting, which will include a Nov. 14 opening address from Archbishop John J. Kennedy, secretary of the Vatican office for discipline of priests guilty of abuse. .

In a message to conference participants on November 13, Pope Francis said that “the participants’ commitment to this cause (of protection from abuse) is a sign of the Church’s continuing efforts to protect the most vulnerable among us “.

The pontiff wrote that he was praying for the conference, which he hopes will be “a fruitful source of information” and that their exchanges will “contribute to a safer and more compassionate Church” and to a “deeper commitment to protecting the children and vulnerable adults within the Church. the Church. »

“In a particular way, I encourage the initiatives taken to bring comfort and assistance to those who have suffered, a sign of the Church’s concern for justice, healing and reconciliation,” Francis said.

Annual report published

At the end of October, the Vatican’s safeguarding commission published its first annual report evaluate the Catholic Church’s policies and procedures to prevent abuse in dioceses around the world, from Africa to Oceania.

The report notes that in Europe there are positive steps towards better frameworks and protection measures within the Church, with many good practices in place, but “differences in response strategies between bishops and religious people can present opportunities for growth and improvement.”

Among the challenges, the report identified a lack of data on the prevalence of abuse in many countries, some frustration with how cases are handled in the canonical system, and disparities between Western and Eastern Europe in the availability and quality of advice and care adapted to children. victims.

“In (European) countries which have experienced very complex crises or which have developed an in-depth public dialogue on abuse, there is a clear trend towards establishing more structured and responsive systems for dealing with abuse within the Church ”, says the report.

Hannah Brockhaus is the Catholic News Agency’s senior correspondent in the Vatican. After growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, she earned a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri. In 2016, she moved to Rome, Italy, where in her free time she enjoys reading and going on adventures with her husband and son.