While some of the world’s bishops are way ahead in cause of child safeguarding against clerical abuse, many are still too slow, especially in the global south. Reparations and healing for victims – especially by simply listening – are also too often lagging. These were key findings of the second annual report by the Papal Commission for the Safeguarding of Minors, published on Thursday Oct 15th, 2025.

“Many times I have also asked myself that same question: Why so slow?” said Msgr. Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, the commission’s secretary, at a news conference to present the report. “Sometimes I admit that I have been discouraged because I wanted the change to be more obvious, more radical.”

Some commentators attribute this slowness partly to the papal commission’s lack of sanctioning power – another aspect of the problem of bishop accountability – lamented frequently by Fr Hans Zollner SJ, a Vatican-linked expert on child safeguarding.

Pope Leo XIV has expressed support for the work of the commission, with which he has met several times since the start of his pontificate in May 2025.

For a more extended account of the report on Vatican News, click here.

‘What victims want is to be listened to’: an interview with Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, a member of the papal commission.