The Church Puts Victims and Their Families First

Christopher Wells

In an interview with Vatican News on Wednesday, 4 June, Cardinal Seán O’Malley talked about the work of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors; raising awareness in the Church about clerical abuse; and the Church’s priorities, especially the need to put victims and their families first.

The Cardinal was speaking on the eve of an audience with Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, 5 June, with members of the Commission. Following that audience on Thursday morning, the Commission issued a statement noting that its first audience with Pope Leo marked a significant moment of reflection, dialogue, and renewed commitment by the Church to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable persons.

In the interview, Cardinal O’Malley, Archbishop emeritus of Boston and one of the founders of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, highlighted the need for transparency, responsibility and education as priorities for the Church in its continuing efforts to address the issue of the abuse of minors and vulnerable persons. Cardinal O’Malley said it is important for people to realize that “the Church, by our very mission, needs to be an expression of God’s love and mercy, and therefore the care and protection of children and young people needs to be central in our mission.” He insisted that people will only listen to the Church’s message “if they are convinced that we care about them. We care about their children. We care about the safety of their children.”

The Cardinal explained that the Commission has always included three groups of people “representing individuals from all over the globe, many with extensive backgrounds in child protection.” He said the Commission has always included victim survivors and parents of survivors among its members. “That has been very, very valuable in keeping what we’re doing real and in contact with the survivor community and to understand their experiences and their experiences of how the Church has reacted to them and dealt with the problems of clergy abuse in the Church,” he said.

The Cardinal also highlighted the importance of strengthening Bishops’ conferences and promoting greater lay participation in safeguarding everywhere. “Unfortunately,” he said, “very often, bishops have been very isolated and trying to make very challenging decisions and policy decisions by themselves,” which, he explained, “lends itself to a lot of mistakes and/or at times, inaction. And so, trying to strengthen the bishops’ conferences and promote greater lay participation in safeguarding in the dioceses throughout the world has, I think, been a very important contribution of the Commission,” he said. The Commission is currently preparing its annual report for 2024, which it hopes to publish in October. Cardinal O’Malley explained that it will focus on “reparations and conversional justice.” His hope is that the report will help to continue to “promote transparency in the Church” and “allow people to see what is happening, the good things as well as the deficiencies.”

For the full interview, please visit:

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2025-06/cardinal-o-malley-interview-commission-protection-minors.html