The first summary on the Summit on Sexual Abuse. The pope launched 21 proposals this morning, which will serve as a guide for the work of the 190 participants.
The first day began with five video testimonies of victims that the bishops had heard behind closed doors in the Synod Hall.
FR. HANS ZOLLNER
Member of the Organizing Committee
'Once you listen with an open mind, open ears and an open heart you cannot remain as you are. You are transformed.' 'As I said, this needs also legal norms and obligations. Yes! But you need also you own yourself.'
One of the main objectives of this summit is that the painful experience of victims that now serves to prevent and detect new abuses.
MSGR. CHARLES SCICLUNA
Member of the Organizing Committee
'In the future, we will need to have a bigger role for the victims, even in our discernment and procedures. I look forward to that development.'
They also want to find a way to inform the victims about the follow-up of their complaints in the Vatican. So far it is not done and that lack of information also generates new wounds.
MSGR. CHARLES SCICLUNA
Member of the Organizing Committee
'We cannot leave the victims without information. We can't leave them, without knowing how the process has concluded. It is a lack of respect for the victims. We have spoken of admiring their courage for having denounced their abusers, but they should also be followed.'
The Vatican highlights the importance of accompanying, supporting and, above all, listening to the victims. For that reason, Msgr. Scicluna assures that the requests the survivors made yesterday in the meeting will not fall on deaf ears.
MSGR. CHARLES SCICLUNA
Member of the Organizing Committee
'We also had a session with a number of victims yesterday and their demands were very explicit. We cannot ignore that voice. '
There are two intense days of work ahead to listen to this voice. From it, they must develop concrete measures to put an end to the scourge of sexual abuse within the Church.
