Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock(VATICAN CITY) — The only sex abuse survivor active on the pope’s commission on abuse has dropped out.
Irishwoman Marie Collins has resigned in frustration from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, a committee Pope Francis set up three years ago to look into better protection for children from sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Collins announced her decision to leave the commission in a statement released Wednesday.
Collins told the National Catholic Reporter she lost hope progress would be made on the issue after Vatican officials failed to implement a recommendation to respond to all letters sent to the office by Catholic Church sex abuse survivors. She told the newspaper she can no longer listen to public statements about the deep concern in the Church for abuse victims when the Vatican refuses to even acknowledge their letters.
“When I accepted my appointment to the Commission in 2014 I said publicly that if I found what was happening behind closed doors was in conflict with what was being said to the public I would not remain,” she said in a statement, according to the National Catholic Reporter. “This point has come. I feel I have no choice but to resign if I am to retain my integrity.”
Observers say the resignation of Collins puts the credibility of the commission in serious question.
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