Pope revives lapsed sex abuse commission amid criticism over handling of scandal
Pope Francis
Pope Francis  revived  his  lapsed sex abuse advisory commission by naming new members Saturday  after coming under fire for  his  overall handling of the scandal and  his  support for a Chilean bishop accused by victims of witnessing and ignoring their abuse.
 Francis  tasked Archbishop Charles Scicluna with the fact-finding mission into Bishop Juan Barros after he came under blistering criticism in Chile for defending Barros and calling the victims' cover-up accusations against him slander.
The initial three-year mandate of commission members had lapsed two months ago  on Dec. 17.  Francis  named nine new members Saturday and kept seven from the initial group. A Vatican statement said survivors of abuse are included  but didn't identify them to protect their privacy.
 Francis  created the commission in December 2013  responding to complaints that  he  hadn't prioritized the fight against clerical abuse and cover-up enough. The group's mission was to advise the pope on best practices to protect children  but it faced strong in-house resistance to some of its core proposals.
The commission's most significant proposal came in 2015  when it successfully persuaded  Francis  and  his  "kitchen cabinet" to create a tribunal section inside the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to judge bishops who botched handling cases of their abuser priests.  Francis  approved funding and personnel for an initial five-year term.
But amid resistance  the tribunal never got off the ground and  Francis  scrapped it entirely in 2016. Instead   he  issued a document laying out essentially existing procedures for the Vatican to investigate negligence. There is no transparency to the process  however.
[TGT] revived   [TGT]   lapsed sex abuse advisory commission by naming new members Saturday  after coming under fire for   [TGT]   overall handling of the scandal and   [TGT]   support for a Chilean bishop accused by victims of witnessing and ignoring their abuse.
  [TGT] tasked Archbishop Charles Scicluna with the fact-finding mission into Bishop Juan Barros after  [TGT]  came under blistering criticism in Chile for defending Barros and calling the victims' cover-up accusations against him slander.
The initial three-year mandate of commission members had lapsed two months ago  on Dec. 17.   [TGT] named nine new members Saturday and kept seven from the initial group. A Vatican statement said survivors of abuse are included  but didn't identify them to protect their privacy.
  [TGT] created the commission in December 2013  responding to complaints that   [TGT]   hadn't prioritized the fight against clerical abuse and cover-up enough. The group's mission was to advise the pope on best practices to protect children  but it faced strong in-house resistance to some of its core proposals.
The commission's most significant proposal came in 2015  when it successfully persuaded   [TGT] and   [TGT]   "kitchen cabinet" to create a tribunal section inside the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to judge bishops who botched handling cases of their abuser priests.   [TGT] approved funding and personnel for an initial five-year term.
But amid resistance  the tribunal never got off the ground and   [TGT] scrapped it entirely in 2016. Instead    [TGT]   issued a document laying out essentially existing procedures for the Vatican to investigate negligence. There is no transparency to the process  however.