A second priestly sex abuse survivor has been added to a commission tasked with advising the Vatican on child protection issues, bringing abroad a man who has openly criticized the Catholic church, Chron reported on Wednesday.
Peter Saunders, 57, of Britain, met with Pop Francis at the Vatican in July along with six other abuse survivors. He told the Argentine Jesuit his account of the abuse he endured and spoke of the toll such traumatic events take on someone.
"I'm not here as part of a PR exercise," Saunders told the pope. "This is about action. The church getting its act together, protecting children, rooting out abusing clergy wherever they are and having a proper and compassionate response to victims and survivors, that has sadly been lacking in many places."
Saunders was first sexually abused by a member of his family when he was seven, then by two religious teachers at school when he was 13 and 14. The crimes were reported to police, but none of the perpetrators faced justice.
The commission includes religious and secular people from Africa, Asia, North and South America, Oceania and Europe. They all come together at the Vatican for the first time on Feb. 6-8, according to ABC.
