Sex Abuse Survivor Leaves Vatican Commission

A British member of the Pope's advisory commission on sexual abuse has left the group, the Vatican has revealed.

At a commission meeting "it was decided" that Peter Saunders, who has been an outspoken critic of the Vatican, would take a leave of absence, a statement said.

The commission said Mr Saunders, who himself was a victim of sexual abuse by a priest, would now "consider how he might best support the commission's work".

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr Saunders said commission members, with one abstention, had asked him to step aside after concluding they could no longer trust him to work within the scope of the commission's mandate.

"I do not want to prevent the work of the commission, the good work that the commission is doing from going ahead, so I had no choice but to step aside," he said.

Mr Saunders made headlines last year when he said that Australian Cardinal George Pell should be dismissed over claims he failed to take action to protect children years ago.

Cardinal Pell is now the Vatican's economic minister.

The 17-member commission, which is advising Pope Francis on how to eradicate sex abuse in the Church, distanced itself from Mr Saunders' comments.

He has also been vocal about a case of an alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in Chile and threatened to resign from the commission over the Vatican's handling of that case.

The Vatican says the commission, which was formed in 2013, is an advisory group and members should not comment on individual cases.

Mr Saunders' departure leaves just one other abuse survivor, Marie Collins, on the commission.

Last year the commission successfully proposed that the Vatican create an in-house tribunal to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect their congregations.

The lack of bishop accountability has prompted criticism that the Vatican had failed to punish or forcibly remove bishops who moved abusive priests from parish to parish where they could rape again, rather than report them to police or remove them from the ministry.

The Vatican has released no information about the commission's progress since it announced that the Pope had agreed to create it.