Pak Sahafat – A New Zealand group representing survivors of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church asked Pope Francis to intervene in the reparations process, saying that church officials mistreated them and harmed the victims.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency’s report on Tuesday, in a letter sent to the Vatican and seen by Reuters, the New Zealand branch of the Priest Abuse Survivors Network, a global organization for victims of child abuse, accused church officials in New Zealand of violating procedures for handling abuse complaints.
In his letter to the Pope, Christopher Longhurst, head of the New Zealand Priests’ Center for Victims of Sexual Abuse, said: Unfortunately, you are harming the very office of the church that was created to provide healing.
In the letter, Longhurst said that while local Catholic Church leaders are publicly extending “an open hand in hope of healing,” behind closed doors they are harming survivors a second time by undermining their own procedures.
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It was unclear whether the pope, who sends hundreds of letters each day through regular mail, had seen it yet, according to the report.
Longhurst told Reuters that the misconduct included denial of adequate investigative process, denial of due process review, cease and desist, as well as public lack of compassion.
Church leaders in New Zealand said they are continually updating and improving whistle blowing processes to help survivors of abuse.
The letter to the Pope comes amid an ongoing public inquiry into physical and sexual abuse in religious and state care institutions in New Zealand, which was published in 2020. According to this report, at least 250,000 children, youth and adults have been sexually abused by priests in New Zealand in the past few decades.
It is one of the longest and most complex commissions of inquiry into sexual abuse by Catholic priests in New Zealand.