Universal Guidelines from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors

The Holy Father instructed the Commission to strengthen the existing safeguarding principles throughout the Church to ensure that the Church is a safe environment for children and vulnerable persons in particular. This mandate is contained in a Catholic Church document called Praedicate Evangelium. Article 78.2 of this document describes the role of the Commission for the Church.

The Commission started work on the formation of precepts in 2022. The final draft went through several rounds of public consultation with local church leaders, victims of violence and other stakeholders before finalizing a universal framework of guidelines.

The document deals with the following principles:

1. Safeguarding* of children and adults is an integral part of the work of the leadership of the Church, its administration and culture.
2. In physical and online environments, adults promote safety and implement appropriate precautions that reduce the likelihood that children and vulnerable adults will be harmed.
3. The support of victims of violence, their families and communities is a priority, therefore the church leadership actively involves the church community in security measures.
4. Procedures for reporting concerns and complaints are prompt, accessible and understandable for children, adults, families, carers, communities and staff.
5. Safeguarding policies and procedures are contextualized according to the culture of the local church.
6. Policies and procedures document how safe the church is for children and adults.
7. Persons who work with children and adults are properly qualified, informed about their responsibilities, have supervision and receive support to put into practice the principles of safeguarding.
8. Staff have the knowledge, skills and understanding of how to keep children and adults safe through awareness, ongoing education and training.
9. Children and adults are taken seriously, are informed of their rights and participate in decisions that affect them.
10. The Church regularly reviews and improves its own mechanisms for the protection of children and adults.

In the document, each principle is divided into several criteria, by which we can see that the principle is implemented in practice. And each criterion has indicators that indicate whether this principle was implemented qualitatively.

As of now, the Commission is piloting the Principles in the Catholic Church in several countries, because it is important to consider the different cultural contexts in which these principles must be transformed into clear protection policies and procedures.

The current document actually complements the Circular Letter of the Dicastery on the Doctrine of Faith of 2011.

*Safeguarding is a concept that has no counterpart in the Ukrainian language. In a broader sense, these are actions aimed at creating an environment in which the child will be treated with dignity, and where the child will feel safe and protected from violence. These actions can also apply to adults who, for some reason, are vulnerable and cannot fully protect themselves.

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