Vatican Moves to Address Sex Abuse Problem: Pope Offers Apology, While Religious Life Leaders Focus on Exploitation of Nuns. (World)

Allen, John L., Jr., National Catholic Reporter

Against the backdrop of a dramatic papal apology for sex abuse by clergy, a joint body of Vatican officials and leaders of religious communities has heard new proposals to address the sexual exploitation of nuns by priests.

The ideas set before that group, the Council of 16, include financial and human support for struggling diocesan communities of nuns, and the development of policies, procedures and sanctions, by religious orders and by conferences of bishops, to deal with cases of abuse.

Meanwhile, the seriousness of the problem of sexual abuse of women religious by priests found fresh confirmation in an interview with a Vatican adviser published in the October issue of a leading missionary journal.

Though discussed in the Council of 16 and elsewhere since at least 1994, detailed information about the abuse of women religious by priests was first brought to public attention in the March 16 issue of the National Catholic Reporter.

The confidential reports obtained and published by NCR suggest such abuse is a global phenomenon, though the documents focused on the Third World, above all on Africa.

The strongly worded papal apology came in Ecclesia in Oceania, the concluding document of the December 1998 Synod for Oceania, which includes Australia, New Zealand, the Malay Archipelago, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The document was presented Nov. 22 in Rome. John Paul II had …

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Publication information: Article title: Vatican Moves to Address Sex Abuse Problem: Pope Offers Apology, While Religious Life Leaders Focus on Exploitation of Nuns. (World). Contributors: Allen, John L., Jr. - Author. Magazine title: National Catholic Reporter. Volume: 38. Issue: 6 Publication date: December 7, 2001. Page number: 5. © 2009 National Catholic Reporter. COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group.

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