My colleague Joshua McElwee has the story. The Holy See will establish a new commission to look at pastoral practices relating to the protection of children. Obviously, having a special commission tasked with this one issue will result in better and faster action. That is how bureaucracies work. While it remains unclear how the new commission's work will interface with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's role in policing clergy sex abuse, the CDF has a zillion other things on its plate at any given time. The new commission will be able to focus on this one issue and advocate for it within the curia.
If the Holy Father really wants to cause a stir, and demonstrate the seriousness with which he is addressing this problem, he will consider naming Jennifer Haselberger to the new commission. She is the former assistance chancellor in the Archdiocese of St. Paul who blew the whistle on the persistent cover-ups in that archdiocese. I am sure she would have a lot to contribute.
