According to the three-year agreement, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which Pope Francis established in 2014 to combat clerical sex abuse, would now work with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization.
Hans Zollner, the commission’s most powerful member, resigned in March, citing serious issues with compliance, accountability, and openness, prompting criticism of the organization.
Following the agreement made public on Friday, the commission would collaborate with the Dicastery on training sessions for newly appointed bishops.
US Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the chair of the commission, said in a Vatican News interview that the organization would reach out to dioceses to assist in “developing programs, to be able to receive victims and have a pastoral care for them.”
The group was directed by Francis to engage with bishops to make sure “they can pay the victims and to work with them.”
Francis has pledged to have zero tolerance for abuse and modified the legislation to require reporting of suspected incidents, but victims’ organizations claim he has not gone far enough.
By incorporating the commission inside the Vatican institution that handles complaints of clergy sex abuse, the pope recently attempted to bolster the organization.
