Pope Francis Names Boston Archbishop O'Malley to Anti-abuse Commission

(NECN: John Moroney, Boston) - Boston's archbishop, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, will serve on a new Vatican commission dealing with clergy sex abuse.

Pope Francis appointed O'Malley in what many hope is a step in the right direction for the Catholic Church.

Some, however, are not so hopeful.

"I was 11 and 12, living in the town of East Douglas. And the priest in that case was Father David Holley," said Phil Saviano.

Saviano first spoke out in 1992 about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a priest. All these years later, the pope has created a commission to look at sex abuse within the church.

"It just seems to me that it's a stalling tactic. And I can't, for the life of me, figure out what it is that they still don't know about this issue," said Saviano.

A group has been protesting outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross ever since the clergy sex abuse scandal erupted in Boston.

Sunday morning, they returned, upset with the commission that Pope Francis created and the selection of Cardinal Sean O'Malley as one of its first members.

"All we're looking for is real action that protects children," said Barbara Blaine, president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "Church officials - Pope Francis, Cardinal O'Malley - are big on talk and not so big on action."

The Vatican says the commission will advise the church on policies to protect children, train people in the church and keep abusers out of the clergy.

It is not clear what, if anything, will be done about church leaders who protect abusers.

"For some people, whatever the church does is never going to be enough," said CJ Doyle of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts. "For some of these groups, like SNAP, if the church went out of business tomorrow, they'd say, 'Why didn't you do it sooner?' I think the Catholic community has to realize that some people are never going to be satisfied with this, so we just have to move on and address it in his own way."

Cardinal O'Malley would only say Sunday he was honored to be selected. He is said to be an advisor to the pope and has experience dealing with the scandal in Boston.

"It's a great need for the church, and I'm honored to be asked to be a part of it," said O'Malley.

"I'm optimistic, but I just worry that it's going to drag on and on and on, and in the end, it's not going to make a lot of difference," said Saviano.

In all, eight people have been appointed to the commission by the Vatican, but only one of them is a victim of the sexual abuse scandal in the church.

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