Introduction:
For the first time in Catholic history, 190 global church leaders have gathered in the Vatican to address the crisis of clergy sexual abuse, described as the most serious crisis in the church since the Reformation
What’s the summit about?
- The Vatican sexual abuse summit, officially the Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, was a four-day Catholic Church summit meeting in Vatican City that ran from 21 to 24 February 2019, convened by Pope Francis to discuss preventing sexual abuse by Catholic Church clergy.
- It was a four-day gathering of about 190 Catholic leaders who will discuss how to resolve the issue of the sexual abuse of minors.
- It took place in the Vatican, in Rome, under the official title of “Protection of Minors in the Church”.
- It has described the meeting’s goal as making “absolutely clear” to bishops how to act to prevent and deal with sexual abuse.
- It focuses on sharing best practices in dealing with abuse, educating bishops on the problem, and on bolstering transparency, responsibility and accountability in the church. It will not, crucially, focus on canon law reform.
- The pope has asked those invited to pray for the coming meeting.
- The summit is important for at least three reasons.
- First, although similar meetings have taken place in the past, it is the first time that a pope has summoned senior bishops for it.
- Second, Pope Francis has given more voice to survivors of clerical sexual abuse – he has met some of them and has urged bishops to do the same in their countries before leaving for Rome. Some survivors will also give their testimony at the summit.
- Finally, the Vatican has acknowledged that sexual abuse is a global problem in the church, and not only an issue in some specific countries, as it had previously downplayed it.
What do survivors want?
- Survivors want the Vatican to remove from the priesthood not only any priest guilty of sexually abusing a child, but also any bishops and cardinals involved in covering him up and shuffling them to other posts.
- Other demands include handing over priest offenders to civil authorities and ending alternative punishment such as sentences to a life of “penance and prayer” or retreat in religious institutions instead of jail.
- All survivors pledge to carry on their battle.
- During the summit, victims of abuse gathered in Rome to protest, shouting “Zero tolerance!”
Takeaways:
- Responsibility
The summit was opened by warning the attending bishops and religious superiors that their constituents were demanding concrete actions, not just words.
- Accountability
Cardinals called for more accountability in the Catholic Church. Cardinal called for transparent legal procedures on how to report and investigate those accused of abuse and those negligent in handling abuse cases. He elaborated upon his “metropolitan model” proposal, in which metropolitan bishops would investigate suspected abuse with the consultation of lay experts, and then submit the results to the Vatican.
- Transparency
It was stressed the need for transparency and traceability, so that abuse cases can be followed by victims and Catholics. Marx also condemned the use of pontifical secrecy to suppress abuse cases.
- Papal priorities
Pope Francis ended the summit with a half-hour speech that included condemnations of the abuses by clergy and cautions against being too extreme in response to the crisis. Rev.
Indian Las: Amendments in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012:
Key changes proposed:
- It will make punishment more stringent for committing sexual crimes against children including death penalty.
- It includes provision of death penalty in cases of sexual offences against children.
- The amendments also provide for levy of fines and imprisonment to curb child pornography.
- Amendments are also proposed to protect children from sexual offences in times of natural calamities and in other situations where children are administered, in any way, any hormone or any chemical substance, to attain early sexual maturity for the purpose of penetrative sexual assault.
Nature of Child abuse in institutions:
- Children have been hurt and abused at school.
- Children are being abused by the caretaker and bus attendant.
- Abuse that our children face from classmates, teachers and even school heads.
- Many students have died or been injured due to poor infrastructure at the schools.
- A survey conducted by World Vision India revealed that one in every two children is a victim of sexual abuse.
- A UNICEF report said that majority of abuses of children was reported for the age group of 5 to 11 years.
- Children are unable to deal with the consequences of the humiliation meted out to them.
