Wednesday is the last day of the four-day gathering, which has brought together around 80 church leaders and lay people representing Latin- and Greek-rite Catholic Churches from Poland, Albania, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Serbia, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia and Kosovo.
The conference is being held under the theme “Our Common Mission of Safeguarding God’s Children.” Its main goal is to encourage the exchange of experiences and promote networking among church representatives engaged in the protection of minors.
The panel discussions have centred around topics such as responsibility, accountability and transparency.
Participants include Cardinal Seán O’Malley, President of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, several lay members of that body, and Father Tomáš Halík from the Czech Republic.
German Jesuit Hans Zollner, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and a leading expert on safeguarding and preventing sexual abuse, has told a press briefing that even though, with a large number of reports of sexual abuse crimes by Polish priests and bishops, the situation in Poland may seem to be worse than in other Eastern European countries, the Polish Roman Catholic Church has made a big step forward in recent years to safeguard minors.
“Much remains to be done; it’s all very painful for Church people, but it’s necessary as it has a cleansing effect, I hope,” he said.
The Czech Republic's Halík said in his address on Monday that the Church in post-communist countries has not yet fully overcome the “clericalism” and “triumphalism” of previous decades, which he said often gives rise to sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse.
He called for courage in tackling problems concerning the level of the theological, pastoral and spiritual understanding of the Church and the priesthood, stressing that disciplinary measures alone will not solve the problem.
Halik said the Church has to be a "field hospital," and a place of encounter, sharing and reconciliation.
Prof. Paweł Wiliński, a Polish Supreme Court judge, called for the Church to adopt legislation to protect the rights of abuse survivors, the overriding goal being to ensure that their already-painful wounds received at the hands of clergy do not become even more painful.
(mk/gs)