Safeguarding remains a top priority with new appointment, US cardinal says

Pope Leo XIV’s appointment of the new president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors shows that safeguarding remains a top priority, its former president said.
“Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV has affirmed the continued priority of the commission’s work for the universal church in his thoughtful appointment” of Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry, France, as the new president of the commission, said Cardinal Seán O’Malley.
“The Holy Father’s words and deeds in these early months of his pontificate assure the world that the church will not grow complacent in her efforts to as best possible ensure the protection of children, vulnerable adults, and all people in our communities,” he said in a written statement released July 5, the day the Vatican announced the new appointment.
Verny, 58, has served as a member of the papal commission since 2022. “In addition to important contributions to the work of the commission, the archbishop has years of in-depth experience working with law enforcement, other civil authorities, and church leadership to ensure accountability for the serious failures of the church in France,” where he served as auxiliary bishop of Paris before joining the commission, O’Malley wrote.
“He has been at the forefront in seeking healing and reconciliation with survivors,” the cardinal said, and he “played an important role in the development and implementation of substantive policies and procedures, with cultural specificity, for the prevention of any recurrence of abuse.”
“With deep humility and profound gratitude, I thank the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV,
for my appointment,” Verny said in a written statement. “I am honoured by the trust he has placed in me, fully aware of the grave and sacred task entrusted to the commission: to help the church become ever more vigilant, accountable, and compassionate in her mission to protect the most vulnerable among us,” he wrote.