A member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults has urged the Catholic bishops in India to make child protection policy mandatory in all institutions under their care.

Sister Arina Gonsalves of the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary also wants the prelates to set up a system to make all diocesan priests and the religious in the country comply with the policy.

“The importance of human formation for the seminarians and candidates for the religious life in the formation houses must be given to prevent pornography in presbytery, seminary and religious houses,” said the Indian nun who joined the Vatican commission two years ago.

Sister Gonsalves, who addressed the 34th plenary assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) on February 17, narrated some case studies that would bear the long-term effects on sexual abuse victims. She listed them as emotional and behavioural problems, abnormal sexual behaviour, psychiatric disorders, suicide tendency, drug abuse and traumatic stress disorder.