Italian Church commits to taking tougher action on child abuse

The Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI) announced a five-point plan to take stronger action against child abuse by clerics at the end of its general meeting in Rome on Friday.

The step follows years of criticism from victims and an appeal from the Vatican.

According to the plan, the contact points for victims are to be expanded, and an expert report on the state of affairs in 2020 and 2021 is to be prepared.

In addition, the cases reported to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican from 2000 to 2021 would be analysed in cooperation with an independent institution.

Meanwhile, Italian bishops had been criticised for years, for not carrying out a comprehensive analysis of abuse within the Catholic Church, unlike in other countries.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the Vatican's commissioner for child protection, had this week encouraged the CEI to do more, calling on it to take steps to ensure that the guilty are removed from the Church.

"Where individuals have violated their duty, we must take firm steps to hold them accountable for their mistakes. Without justice there can be no healing,'' he said.

Francesco Zanardi of the victims' association Rete L'Abuso criticised the Bishops' Conference, saying it wanted to compile the reports internally.