VATICAN CITY — In its efforts to help advise the pope, the Roman Curia, bishops’ conferences and local churches on protecting minors from abuse, a Vatican commission listened to abuse survivors from Great Britain and discussed the results of Australia’s public inquiry into its country’s institutional responses to abuse. The plenary assembly of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) April 20-22 was the first gathering with a group of new members appointed in February. Pope Francis met with the commission members in a private audience April 21 and met the day before with Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, who is president of the 17-member commission. The commission secretary is U.S. Msgr. Robert Oliver, a Boston priest, canon lawyer and former promotor of justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The pope said he wanted to confirm the commission’s statutes, which were issued April 21, 2015, “ad experimentum” for a period of three years, according to a press statement by the commission April 22.
Father Matthew Foley reinstated to ministry On April 15, Cardinal Cupich sent the following letter to St. Agnes of Bohemia; St. Gall; St. James; Mary, Seat of Wisdom; Misión San Juan Diego; St. Norbert and Our Lady of the Brook; and St. Simon of Cyrene parishes informing them of the reinstatement of Father Matthew Foley.
U.S. cardinal to play key role until a new pope is elected With the death of Pope Francis April 21, the practical aspects of overseeing the day-to-day needs of the church and organizing a papal election fall to U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell.
Pope on Easter: Jesus' resurrection makes Christians pilgrims of hope The hope Christians have is not a sign of avoiding reality but of trusting in the power of God to defeat sin and death as the resurrection of Jesus clearly shows, Pope Francis wrote in his Easter message.