Marie Collins Staff Reporter
Marie Collins’ first training event for Vatican officials since her resignation from Pope Francis’ child protection commission was “encouraging” and “very positive”, the leading advocate has said.
Mrs Collins announced her resignation in February from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, citing frustration with obstructive curial officials. Despite this, she joined commission head Cardinal Sean O’Malley and commission member Fr Hans Zollner SJ last weekend in a training session for the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
“It went very well,” Mrs Collins told The Irish Catholic, describing the congregation as “a very important dicastery from the point of view of child protection”, since “it influences parts of the world where there wouldn’t have been much attention on child abuse in the Church up to now”.
Informative
The session was very well attended, according to Mrs Collins, with the training team being made very welcome. “Quite a few of the participants already had a good grasp of what’s needed, and for others it was obviously informative and that’s the whole point,” she said. “It was encouraging and very positive, and as I say, particularly that dicastery because it has such a wide sphere of influence being in so many countries where it’s really a missionary Church.”
Describing the exercise as “excellent”, she said, “It was very, very worthwhile and very positive.”