Abuse survivor Marie Collins quits Pope’s sex-abuse commission

Clerical abuse survivor and campaigner, Marie Collins, said she resigned from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors because a group of people in the Vatican had been obstructing its work, including not following recommendations from the Pope.

Ms Collins had been a member of the 15-person commission for the past three years and was its only Irish representative.

But, yesterday, she said she had tendered her resignation to Pope Francis last month.

Her work with the commission ended officially yesterday.

Since the beginning of the commission, in March 2014, she had been impressed with the dedication of her colleagues and with the genuine wish by Pope Francis to deal with clerical sexual abuse.

“However, despite the Holy Father approving all the recommendations made to him by the commission, there have been constant setbacks,” she said.

“This has been directly due to the resistance by some members of the Vatican curia to the work of the commission.

“The lack of co-operation, particularly by the dicastery most closely involved in dealing with cases of abuse, has been shameful.”

She referred to what she called “a simple recommendation, approved by Pope Francis”, that went to the dicastery (a department of the Roman Curia) regarding “a small change of procedure in the context of care for victims/survivors”.

This recommendation was to do with facilitating and responding to communication from abuse survivors.

However, Ms Collins said that in January she had learned the change was refused, alongside a request for co-operation on “a fundamental issue of commission work in regard to safeguarding”.

She said: “For me, it is the last straw”.

“I just think that there is a small number of men in there who are not really in touch with things. Clericalism still abounds with that group.

“I don’t know the reasons.” Abuse victim support group, One In Four, said it was saddened that Ms Collins had stepped down and it appeared she had “no option” but to resign.

The organisation’s executive director, Maeve Lewis, said of Ms Collins: “She had real hopes that her participation on the Vatican Commission would lead to genuine change at the very top of the Catholic Church.

“Her resignation, after three frustrating years, brings into question the sincerity of top-level Vatican personnel in responding to survivors of sexual abuse.

“Despite all the protestations of commitment to child protection, it appears that very little has really changed.”

Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, paid tribute to Ms Collins and said victims and survivors owed her “an enormous debt”.

Ms Collins has accepted an invitation from Cardinal Sean O’Malley to continue to be part of training projects, including those for the curia and new bishops.