Needs of Sexual Abuse Victims Must Come First - Pope

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
9 Feb 2012

Pope's message was
to put the needs
of the abuse victims first

Participants of a symposium in Rome on sexual abuse have been asked by Pope Benedict XVI  to put the needs of abuse victims first.

Called "Towards Healing and Renewal" the gathering at the Pontifical Gregorian University is for Catholics Bishops and Religious Superiors.

One aim of the gathering is to show how victims of abuse can be helped and what priests and religious should do with those who commit these crimes.

Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Levada as already addressed the symposium telling delegates the Church must co-operate with the law in cases of abuse.

However he said a response also entails a multi-faceted response. Cardinal Levada said with the explosion of media coverage of the cases of sexual abuse of minors committed by clerics in the Catholic Church there was also the realisation of the many and complex issues involved in the crime of sexual abuse.

"The more than 4000 cases of sexual abuse of minors reported to the CDF in the past decade have revealed, on the one hand, the inadequacy of an exclusively canonical (or canon law) response to this tragedy, and on the other, the necessity of a truly multi-faceted response," the Cardinal said.

Cardinal Levada

"While the Congregation's primary responsibility is the application of equitable norms in the discipline of guilty clergy, it has necessarily made its own the expanded view of how best to assist in the healing of victims, of promoting programs for the protection of children and young people, of urging bishops to provide for the education of communities of faith to responsibility for their youth, and of working with other Dicasteries of the Holy See and Episcopal Conferences in ensuring the proper formation of today's priests, and the priests of the future ,in the various aspects related to the issues of sexual abuse on minors."

Other points Cardinal Levada spoke about of importance for the attendees was the importance of listening to victims, creating safe environments for minors, ensuring proper formation for priests and religious and co-operating with civil authorities.