(ZENIT News / Rome, 04.19.2023).- On Wednesday, April 19, the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ made public the Third “Truth, Justice and Healing” Annual Report as part of its commitment to the victims of abuse by members of the Congregation, the society and the Church. The Congregation’s Office of Communication stated : “The fact of evaluating ourselves and of being accountable helps us verify the advances achieved and also the deficiencies, which call for greater endeavour.”
This third consecutive Report presents the work carried out in the year 2022, related to attention to the victims, the implementation of the Program of Reparation and Support, the tracking of canonical procedures, aspects related to coverups, the accreditation processes, the strengthening of collaboration with external institutions and experts, and the abuses of authority and conscience.
This Third Report pivots around three great axes. The first makes a 17-year historical balance of a path to a culture of zero abuses; the second axis makes known the advances related to attention to victims, reparation and support, the tracking of canonical procedures underway, the handling of coverups and grave negligence, the state of processes of accreditation, collaboration with external institutions and experts and the state of abuses of authority and conscience. Finally, the third axis refers to the commitments made for the coming years.
Aspects to highlight are the implementation of the Program of Reparation and Support to Victims, which is integral and includes financial compensation and other types of reparation. Hence, the intention is to alleviate in part the terrible footprint left by sexual abuses. Eleven victims have already been attended according to the principles of this program.
In addition, a stable collaboration was strengthened with external institutions and experts in areas where the Congregation is present and appropiate reception and accompaniment of the victims has been facilitated.
The Report mentions that six of the nine territories that make up the Congregation in the world have the accreditation of external audit of the protocols of safe environments issued by the Praesidium, organization recognized internationally in the prevention of sexual abuses against minors. The remaining three territories are in the process of accreditation.
This work goes hand in hand with a team of coordinators of safe environments in each territory that has received specialized formation by CEPROME and Repair of the University of Anáhuac in Mexico; the Development and Person Institute of the Francisco de Vitoria University, CONFER and Repair in Spain, the Episcopal Conferences of Germany, Chile, Spain, the United States and France; Eshmá, Praesidium (Armatus) and the Union of Superiors General.
Finally, the Third Annual Report presents the commitments to fulfil in which the strengthening is highlighted of the response to complaints, the strengthening of the program of financial reparation, the start of an external audit that revises the work carried out, the extension of collaboration with external institutions and experts and examination with external experts of eventual indications of coverups or grave negligence.
All the data of updated cases, documents and reports, as well as contacts of institutional and independent channels for complaints can be found at 0abuse.org
