The Director ‘Ad Interim’ of the Holy See Press Office, Alessandro Gisotti, issued the following statement on February 25, 2019, on the restricted Inter-Dicastery Meeting held today in the Vatican, calling it “a first concrete effect of the Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, which ran from February 21-24, 2019.
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From 9:00 am to 1:00 pm today, a restricted Inter-Dicastery Meeting was held in the Bologna Hall of the Apostolic Vatican Palace, on the subject of the fight against the abuse of minors. This meeting is a first concrete effect of the Meeting on “The Protection of Minors in the Church,” which ended yesterday. Attending the meeting, together with officials of the State Secretariat and Heads of Dicasteries that are particularly involved with the subject, were the Organizing Committee and the Moderator, Father Federico Lombardi, S.J., who reflected on reactions to the Meeting and on the follow-up.
The accent was put first of all and unanimously on how necessary such a Meeting was, intensely desired by Pope Francis. It was made clear, moreover, that such an event must now be followed by concrete measures as strongly requested by the People of God. Illustrated in this context were the fundamental principles that inspire the Documents and task forces, announced in the Meeting’s conclusive press conference. It was affirmed that such initiatives, must be communicated in the clearest, timeliest and detailed way possible.
In the free interventions of Heads of Dicasteries, who confirmed their commitment to follow Pope Francis’ example in the fight against abuses, the accent was put on the necessity to listen to the victims as the point of departure of this commitment. Other points stressed were: greater involvement of the laity on this front and the need to invest in formation and prevention, making use of the reality with a consolidated experience in this field. Finally, it was highlighted that, in the sign of synodality and synergy, it is opportune to verify with meetings, at the inter-dicastery level, the progress of the Meeting’s follow up.
[Original text: Italian] [ZENIT’s translation by Virginia M. Forrester]
