They also must be offered “concrete actions to repair the horrors they have suffered and to prevent them from happening again” as well as the truth, transparency, safe spaces, psychological support and protection, the pope said in a video message released by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network March 2.

“The church must serve as a model to help solve the issue and bring it to light in society and in families,” he said.

At the start of each month, the network posts a short video of the pope offering his specific prayer intention. For the month of March, the pope dedicated his prayer intention for the victims of abuse. Child Abuse Prevention Month is observed in April in the United States.

In his video message, the pope said, “In response to cases of abuse, especially to those committed by members of the church, it’s not enough to ask for forgiveness.”

“Asking for forgiveness is necessary, but it is not enough. Asking for forgiveness is good for the victims, but they are the ones who have to be ‘at the centre’ of everything,” he said.

“Their pain and their psychological wounds can begin to heal if they find answers — if there are concrete actions to repair the horrors they have suffered and to prevent them from happening again,” Pope Francis said.

“The church cannot try to hide the tragedy of abuse of any kind. Nor when the abuse takes place in families, in clubs, or in other types of institutions,” he said. In fact, the church must be a model to help shine light on and remedy the problem.

“The church must offer safe spaces for victims to be heard, supported psychologically and protected,” he said.

“Let us pray for those who have suffered because of the wrongs done to them by members of the church; may they find within the church herself a concrete response to their pain and suffering,” he said.

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© OSV News / Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. 2023 – from CNS Vatican bureau, used with permission

Jesuit expert appointed to Diocese of Rome’s safeguarding office

“I am committed to listening to survivors and to promoting education and formation in the field of safeguarding, and look forward to continuing to do so in this new role,” the German Jesuit priest said in a written statement March 3, 2023, the same day of the announcement.

“It is my hope that this new endeavour with the Diocese of Rome, as well as my continuing role as director of the Institute of Anthropology, will further the mission of making the world a safer place for children and vulnerable persons,” he said.

Pope Francis created the office dedicated to safeguarding minors and vulnerable people earlier this year when he overhauled the Vicariate of Rome.

Zollner, 56, said in his written statement that the creation of the office within the Diocese of Rome “is a testament to the fact that safeguarding must be a priority for all Catholic dioceses around the world.”

A licensed psychologist and psychotherapist, Zollner is director of the Institute of Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University. He is a professor of at the university’s Institute of Psychology and a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

The changes to the Vicariate went into effect Jan. 31 in the new apostolic constitution, “In Ecclesiarum Communione” (“In the Communion of Churches”), which replaces the previous constitution, “Ecclesia in Urbe” (“The Church in the City”), issued by St. John Paul II in 1988.

The vicariate, too, is called “to become more suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation” and to be at the service of a church that reaches out to everyone, evangelizing in word and deed, embracing human life and “touching the suffering flesh of Christ in others,” the pope wrote in a new papal instruction.

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