Birmingham, England, Sep 20, 2010 / 03:24 am
In the first ever meeting of its kind, the Holy Father told U.K. child safeguarding workers that they are an important part of the Church's response to the problem of child sex abuse. The national chair of the protection commission said the Pope made it "very clear" that the Church needs to work to better protect children and support victims.
On Saturday, after a morning meeting with five victims of clerical sex abuse at the nunciature, the Holy Father later met for the first time ever with a delegation of child safeguarding professionals. At St. Peter's home for the elderly in London, he held an audience with Bill Killgallon, Chair of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission in England and Wales and seven colleagues representing parish, diocesan and national levels of the organization.
According to a statement released by the Holy See, Pope Benedict told them: "It is deplorable that, in such marked contrast to the Church’s long tradition of care for them, children have suffered abuse and mistreatment at the hands of some priests and religious. We have all become much more aware of the need to safeguard children, and you are an important part of the Church’s broad-ranging response to the problem."
During a Sunday briefing with media, Mr. Killgallon recounted that the Pope was "interested" in the fact that all dioceses and religious orders in England and Wales subscribe to a single set of policies. The chair described his further interest to know that there is a representative in every parish, professional staff and a commission in every diocese and a national commission formed of a majority of lay people along with Church representatives.