Inquiry to hold final public hearing in Roman Catholic Church investigation

21 October 2019

The Inquiry is holding its final public hearing in the Roman Catholic Church investigation from 28 October – 8 November.

The hearing will take place from 10.30am to 4.15pm at the Inquiry’s hearing centre, 18 Pocock Street, London SE1 0BW.

The hearing will examine the extent of institutional failings by the Roman Catholic Church to protect children from sexual abuse.

It will also consider the Church’s current safeguarding regime and any ways in which it can be improved.

The Inquiry is calling Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference and Father Paul Smyth, the President of the Conference of Religious (sic), as well as victims and survivors of child sexual abuse within the Church.

It will hear from the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission, the Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service and the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Safeguarding expert Edi Carmi has been instructed to review the Church’s current policies and procedures and she will present her findings to the panel. Witnesses will also be called from the Charity Commission and the Catholic Insurance Service.

As part of this investigation, the Inquiry has already held public hearings and published reports on the English Benedictine Congregation and Archdiocese of Birmingham case studies. A further report on Ealing Abbey, part of the English Benedictine Congregation case study, is being published on 24 October.

The timetable for each week will be published on the Inquiry’s website on the preceding Thursday.

Public hearings are streamed ‘live’ (subject to a three minute delay) on the Inquiry’s YouTube channel and website www.iicsa.org.uk/live. The transcripts will be available on the website a few hours after the end of each hearing day.