Catholic Church Abuse Survivors In Asia /Oceania Call Out Pontifical Commission Report

Survivors of abuse in the Catholic Church across Asia and Oceania have expressed their concerns about the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors’ Second Annual Report.

“Without real open engagement with SNAP and survivors directly, their credibility must remain at zero,” says John Brown, an Australian survivor of abuse by clergy, regarding the Pontifical Commission's Second Annual Report.

While the Vatican Commission reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s "commitment to placing victims and survivors of abuse at the centre of its safeguarding mission," victims and survivors who reached out to the Commission from Asia and Oceania were ignored.

The report failed to mention how church leaders across Asia and Oceania remain unaccountable and non-transparent to their congregations and the broader community about the nature and extent of abuse and how they are responding on the ground today.

For example, in New Zealand, Catholic bishops have now engaged lawyers to threaten victims and survivors of having their complaints dismissed if they do not remain silent about alleged breaches of redress principles and procedures.

In an "Open Letter to the People of Asia & Oceania," the survivors addressed their concerns about the Pontifical Commission’s work. 

The letter reads:

OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF ASIA & OCEANIA
28 October 2025

To Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors
Via e-mail: info@tutelaminorum.va,
cc. nuntius@nunciature.nz, na.australia@diplomat.va, nu_office_tokyo@yahoo.co.jp

Second Report On Abuse And Safeguarding: Section On Asia/Oceania

Dear Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors
Tēnā koutou katoa,
Ni sa bula vinaka,
Wominjeka,

Greetings from the Asia/Oceania region. 

We greet you in the languages of the Māori and Fijian peoples, and the language of the Kulin people of Australia.

Thank you for your Second Report on Abuse.

Your report mentioned abuse and safeguarding in the Asia/Oceania region and the challenges in this region. Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia are two major countries heavily impacted by abuse in the Catholic Church in this region. Your report did not address the ongoing abuse and failure of your church leaders to authentically safeguard in these two vital nations. These nations were even excluded from your map on page 166. They sit to the southeast of the map you displayed.

Neither were the Survivors Network of those Abused By Priests (SNAP) in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and the Pacific Islands, and Japan, major players in responding to abuse and experiencing the “safeguarding” of your church leaders in these countries, contacted by you for your reporting.

We ask: How credible can a report by the Pontifical Commission be, commenting on abuse and safeguarding in this region, without any input from the major players dealing with abuse and safeguarding in that region?

Once again the people who matter the most, the victims and survivors, have been ignored in your institutional church-centred approach. Handpicking token victims is not helpful. From your report, it appears that you interviewed one victim in Tonga. We are not your commodities. When you do this, and ignore survivor groups who reach out to you, it comes across as superficial.

Engaging with major survivors groups on the ground in Asia/Oceania, with mutual respect, responding to them when they reach out to you, before commenting on their reality and experiences, may help make your reporting more credible.

We hope you might contact us in the future before commenting on our reality of abuse and safeguarding in the Asia/Oceania region.

Sincerely,

Donald McLeish
Leader
SNAP Australia

Mary Speller
Co-leader
SNAP Aotearoa New Zealand

Felix Fremlin
Leader
SNAP Fiji/Pacific Islands

Harumi Suzuki
Leader
SNAP Sendai/Japan

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