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Church responding decisively to new sex abuse reports, official says
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The religious orders and bishops' conferences dealing with cases of clerical sexual abuse of children in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands are acting quickly, decisively and with transparency to uncover the truth and assist the victims, said the Vatican spokesman. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said March 9 that the religious orders and bishops' conferences not only "have proven their commitment to transparency, in a certain sense they have accelerated the uncovering of the problem by asking victims to come forward even when it involved cases from many years ago." The correct way to proceed, he said, is to recognize what happened and concretely demonstrate concern for the victims and the consequences the abuse has had on them. The new revelations of abuse, mainly at Catholic schools, in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands as well as the recent report on abuse in Ireland "mobilize the church to elaborate appropriate responses and should be inserted in the context of a problem that is wider and involves the safeguarding of children and youths from sexual abuse in society," Father Lombardi said. Sexual abuse at the hands of a priest or other church worker is "particularly reprehensible," he said, but those who have the good of children at heart must recognize that the problem is present in many other sectors of society and "to concentrate the accusations only against the church leads to falsifying one's perspective."
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