Vatican anti-abuse committee begins first meeting

A new Vatican committee aimed at preventing child sex crimes by priests and caring for victims met for the first time today in Pope Francis's residence.
Francis in March announced the creation of the committee, which includes Irish abuse victim and campaigner Marie Collins, two psychiatrists and three clergymen.
One member is Cardinal Sean O'Malley, whose archdiocese in Boston in the United States was the epicentre of a wave of scandals a decade ago that rocked the Catholic Church.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi was quoted by the Italian news agency as saying ahead of the meeting that it would discuss "the integration of other members who could represent other geographical areas in the world."

The talks in St Martha's Residence are to continue until Saturday and the eight committee members will meet with Francis, although no major decisions are expected.
The Vatican has been more proactive in investigating allegations of abuse and listening to victims in recent years and has promised zero tolerance for abusers.

But it faces a backlog of thousands of cases and has been criticised for failing to do enough to punish predatory priests or the senior clergymen who covered up for them.
There is also concern that most of the reported abuses have been concentrated in Europe and North America and there may be many more in other parts of the world.

The United Nations children's rights committee slammed the Vatican earlier this year for hushing up cases and said suspected paedophiles should be handed over to the police.
Francis made a personal plea for forgiveness for the "evil" of abuses at a meeting with representatives of a children's charity in the Vatican last month.
"We will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem and the sanctions that must be imposed," he told them.