Today, November 17, 2020, the Slovenian bishops met online with the Jesuit Fr. Hans Zollner, the leading church expert in the field of protection of children and minors, and president of the Centre for Child Protection (CCP) at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

The topic of the meeting was the exchange of views and experiences in the field of efforts of the Catholic Church for the protection of children, minors and vulnerable adults. In his lecture, Fr. Zollner informed the Slovenian bishops about the efforts of the Church to protect children and minors over the past twenty years. He emphasized the importance of the appropriate initial and permanent formation of priests, religious brothers and sisters, and called on bishops to be active in this field. Fr. Zollner answered the questions from bishops that included topics of prevention and advocacy for victims of sexual violence, and the implementation of appropriate pastoral care and monitoring of priests and other pastoral workers.

Slovenian bishops informed Fr. Zollner about the newly amended guidelines for the protection of children and the work of the Expert Group for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults at SBC. Fr. Zollner expressed support to all the efforts of the bishops to raise awareness of pastoral workers and believers on this topic.

Yesterday and today, Father Hans Zollner has also had online lectures for priests, senior religious leaders, the Expert Group and members of both Ecclesiastical Courts. This afternoon, he will also host an online meeting with media representatives and Slovenian catechists.

The organizing of the meeting with Fr. Hans Zollner is part of the efforts of Slovenian bishops to strengthen the work done so far in the field of protection of children, minors and vulnerable adults.

PhD Tadej Jakopič

SBC spokesperson