De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

In December 2013, Pope Francis sparked hope that the Catholic Church was taking the scandal of clerical sexual abuse seriously as he created a group to advise him and future popes on how the church worldwide could protect children, appointing experts on the issue and even survivors of abuse to a new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors . Four years later that commission has lapsed into an inactive state. Its members' terms of office, as set by the group's Vatican-approved statutes, expired last December (2017). Neither the pope nor the Vatican have made known when or if the current members will be reappointed or new members found. That Francis has allowed this lapse to occur has been broadly criticised from all quarters of the Catholic Church as deeply troubling. A commission without validly appointed members ceases to be a commission; its members may carry on their work but if they do, they do so as individuals without legal standing or vested authority ...

Yesterday, Marie Collins, former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors posted an open response to Cardinal Müller's dismissal of her allegations that his office apparently refused to reply to letters from victims of clergy sexual abuse, a decision which led Collins, the only abuse survivor on the pontifical commission about the matter, to resign her post. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said in an interview  with Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper , it is "a misunderstanding" to think that his office "could deal with all the dioceses and religious orders in the world." "It is good that personal contact with victims be done by pastors in their area,"  Müller said "When a letter arrives, we always ask the bishop that he might take pastoral care of the victim, clarifying to him or her that the Congregation will do all that is possible to give justice." Having the Vat...