Abuse survivor says Pope is wrong on smacking

Pope Francis was wrong when he said it was acceptable to smack children, and should revise what he said, a British abuse survivor advising the Vatican on child protection has insisted. 

 

Peter Saunders, who was invited to meet Francis last year, has been appointed to a panel of experts advising the pope on how to tackle the clerical sex abuse scandal. 

 

All 17 members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, met for the first time on Friday. Other members include leading British psychiatrist Baroness (Sheilla) Hollins and Irish abuse survivor and campaigner Marie Collins. At a press conference following the commission's meeting, Mr Saunders said that the "elephant in the room" was Pope Francis' apparent support for smacking. 

 

Francis told the General Audience on Wednesday that parents should in certain circumstances punish their children, advising them to "do the right thing, and then move on," as he acted out a smacking movement. He quoted a father who said he smacked his children sometimes ‘but never in the face so as to not humiliate them,’ and said he was doing the right thing.  

 

But Mr Saunders, who founded the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said that, having chosen to become a priest rather than a father, the Pope did not know much about raising children.

 

He said the panel needed to talk to the Pope about what he said adding: "I’m sure he will revise his advice. There are millions of children around the world beaten on daily basis. It might start off as a light tap. But it is about inflicting pain. 

 

"Physical violence has no part in modern parenting. Two centuries ago we would hang children for stealing bread and send them up chimneys. I was hit throughout my childhood and it did me a lot of harm." 

 

Alluding to Francis' account of how in his youth he had chosen to become a priest rather than marry his girlfriend, Mr Saunders said: "I’m pretty sure that if he [Francis] had proposed to that woman and got married if he had gone down that path, I’m sure he would have raised children and they wouldn’t have suffered. But he’s never had to raise children and doesn’t know much about it."

 

It was disclosed at the press conference that in a letter to bishops conferences and religious orders around the world on 2 February Francis said that the commission’s purpose was to offer proposals "to improve the norms and procedures for protecting children and vulnerable adults." 

 

"Everything possible must be done to rid the Church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors and to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who were abused," he wrote.

 

Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, who heads the panel, said proposals included courses for Curia and bishops, making child protection measures a requirement for funding from Catholic groups and measures to improve accountability. 

 

Cardinal O’Malley said: "The group have been working out policies that we feel will allow the Church to respond in an expeditious way when a bishop has not fulfilled his obligations. We have come up with some very practical remedies." 

 

The commission planned to seek advice from a wider selection of experts and survivors of abuse, he said.  

 

A small number of episcopal conferences, about 4 per cent, have still not responded to a request made two years ago to prepare guidelines on child protection, while others had given a "weak" response he said. 

 

Those that had not fulfilled their obligations were mission countries that did not have the funding, he said.