PETER SAUNDERS was appointed three years ago to a papal child protection body in what was read as a sign of Pope Francis’ willingness to take control of the clerical sexual abuse crisis. But things didn’t quite work out as planned. The prominent sex abuse survivors advocate was due in Rome yesterday to announce his resignation from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Saunders is frustrated at the slowness of reform. “I’m disappointed that the commission didn’t do what I thought it was set up to achieve,” he told me earlier this week. “And there is still a huge amount of work that needs to be done.”