Pope Leo XIV signals continuity on fighting abuse with new head of child protection board

ROME – Pope Leo XIV signaled committedness to continuing the fight against clergy intersexual abuse by appointing France's Bishop Thibault Verny to caput the Vatican’s kid extortion advisory committee connected Saturday.

Verny, 59, replaces American Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the retired archbishop of Boston. O'Malley was the founding president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, an advisory radical Pope Francis established successful 2014 to counsel the religion connected champion practices to combat maltreatment and support children.

As the maltreatment ungraded dispersed globally during Francis’ 12-year pontificate, the committee initially mislaid power and its crowning proposal — the instauration of a tribunal to justice bishops who covered up for predator priests — went nowhere. After galore years of betterment and caller members, it has go a spot wherever victims tin spell to beryllium heard and bishops tin get proposal connected crafting guidelines to combat abuse.

Verny, who is presently the bishop of Chambery, France, has been a subordinate of the committee since 2022 and heads the kid extortion assembly of the bishops league successful France, wherever the religion has been rocked by revelations of decades and maltreatment by priests and bishops. He was among committee members who met with Leo past month.

The bishop has been liable for doing an yearly audit of the French church’s centers for receiving victims, an inaugural that was started aft a devastating 2021 study into the French ungraded estimated 330,000 children successful France had been sexually abused implicit the past 70 years by religion personnel.

Cardinal O’Malley praised the appointment, saying Verny has developed in-depth acquisition helping victims and moving with instrumentality enforcement and civilian authorities to guarantee accountability “for the superior failures of the religion successful France.”

In a statement, O’Malley besides praised Leo for continuing to see the committee a priority.

“The Holy Father’s words and deeds successful these aboriginal months of his pontificate guarantee the satellite that the Church volition not turn complacent successful her efforts to arsenic champion imaginable guarantee the extortion of children, susceptible adults and each radical successful our communities,” helium said.

Verny, for his part, praised O’Malley’s enactment arsenic courageous and having served arsenic “a motivation compass” for the church, a notation to O’Malley’s occasional statements of outrage erstwhile adjacent Francis bungled an maltreatment case.

“I americium committed, unneurotic with the members and personnel, to gathering connected that legacy,” Verny said successful a statement.

The American-born pope made the assignment the time earlier heading for a six-week abrogation astatine the papal summertime retreat southbound of Rome.

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