ROME – People who were sexually abused by priests gathered in Rome on Saturday to denounce the Vatican’s latest effort to show it is cracking down on clerical abuse and demand greater accountability from the Catholic Church.
About 50 victims, most of them Italian, gathered for a daylong symposium on the psychological and legal issues surrounding abuse. The group, which included several former students of a notorious school for the deaf in Verona where dozens of people reported abuse, ended the day with a march on Italy’s parliament.
One of the organizers, Salvatore Domolo, a 46-year-old ex-priest who says he was abused from age eight to 11 by his parish priest in Novarra, said victims were incensed by the Vatican’s letter this week to bishops around the world asking they write guidelines to combat abuse.
In its letter, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith emphasized the primary role of bishops and religious superiors in handling abuse cases at a time when bishops’ credibility to enforce child protection policies has again been questioned. Recent reports by lay review boards in the U.S. and Ireland have exposed some bishops’ continued stonewalling and unwillingness to report abusers.
And just Saturday, the church and Salesian order
Read More from the Article Source: Full Article
