Representatives of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors met in Argentina with some 450 people involved in Safeguarding efforts in the country to spread awareness on the prevention of abuse and the protection of minors and vulnerable adults.  

Commission member Patricia Espinosa and regional expert of the Americas, Father Daniel Portillo traveled around the South American country through Aug. 22 – Sept. 2. The team spent 12 days traveling to two provinces to meet and train members of the Safeguarding community.  

“The protection of minors and vulnerable people is an essential issue in our world today,” Patricia said. “But especially in specific realities, such as the Latin American continent, where the scourge of abuse is compounded by social and economic injustices and cultural particularities that aggravate the problem.”  

Abuse, she said, can take on different forms and training current and future Safeguarders is vital in fostering a culture of care within the Catholic Church to those who have suffered.  

“That which does not have a name or a surname does not exist,” said Patricia when explaining why raising awareness and educating people in the Church is of great importance. “Questioning the normalization of this crime allows people to hope that they can live in a different way and think for the first time about healing and justice.” 

Training on Safeguarding 

Patricia and Father Daniel began the first part of their 12-day visit in the Chubut Province of Argentina’s southern Patagonia Region. There they met with and trained technical teams and pastoral agents from the Dioceses of Rawson, Viedma, Río Gallegos, Comodoro Rivadavia and, Río Negro.  

Among the issues discussed were risk mapping in ecclesiastical environments, the procedural process of receiving complaints, and the appropriate management of cases with children and vulnerable adults afflicted by abuse, as well as those accused of sexual abuse in the Church.  

The second half of their visit took them to the Province of Córdoba where they gave formation on the theoretical foundations of Safeguarding and the protection of minors and vulnerable persons to representatives from the Dioceses of Córdoba, Río Cuarto, Reconquista, Rafaela and San Francisco. 

The participants who took part in the meetings included priests, seminary rectors, seminarians, men and women from various religious communities, Catholic school directors, and pastoral agents of the dioceses in the provinces.  

The Memorare Initiative 

The Memorare Initiative (MI) was also presented to participants during the training session by Patricia Espinosa, who is also the coordinator of the Memorare Initiative at the Commission. This project is built around the Universal Guidelines Framework, and Vos Estis Lux Mundi, 2023, this initiative was developed by the Commission in response to Pope Francis’ request to assist local churches in implementing the requirements of church law for the protection of minors and vulnerable adults.  

The Memorare Initiative is based three pillars:  

• Firstly, the creation of offices or insitutions to receive reports of abuse and to listen to victims/survivors, their families, and to refer them to the professional or pastoral services they require;  

• Secondly, assistance in the development and implementation of training and education programs for the prevention of sexual abuse in church settings; 

• Thirdly, the creation of local Safeguarding networks for resource sharing.   

The Memorare Initiative, which is already being applied in the Province of Chubut “is a sign of a local church that not only believed in synodality, but lives it, applies it, and does not hesitate to share with its sister churches the resources that allow, as the Holy Father has said, to make the Church the safest house for all,” Patricia said.  

“The laity truly love their Church and are ready to work on the initiatives that our institution proposes to eradicate this type of violence,” she added.