VATICAN CITY, APRIL 7, 2003 (Zenit.org).- A scientific meeting on the problem of pedophilia that took place here last week will see its reports published in the coming months, the Vatican press office reported.
“Attending the symposium, promoted by the Pontifical Academy for Life, were the most qualified experts on this subject, who came from the United States, Canada and Germany,” reported a statement issued by Joaquín Navarro-Valls, director of the Vatican press office.
“During the meeting the topic of pedophilia was considered from a purely scientific and clinical point of view,” the statement said. “The reports given at the meeting, as well as the protocols regarding its development, will be published in several months.”
Other participants attending the closed-door meeting April 2-5 included specialists in recovery therapy of people affected by this problem.
In addition to the Secretariat of State, there were also representatives of Roman Curia dicasteries, including the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Clergy, Institutes of Consecrate Life, and Catholic Education.
Participants in the meeting included:
— Jorg M. Fegert, medical director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Child and Youth Psychiatry/Psychotherapy at the University of Ulm, Germany;
— Karl Hanson, department of the solicitor general of Canada;
— Martin P. Kafka, Harvard Medical School;
— Hans Krober, director of the Institute for Forensic Psychiatry, Free University of Berlin;
— Ron Langevin, University of Toronto;
— William Marshall, Queen’s University, in Ontario;
— Friedemann Pfafflin, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, head of the section for forensic psychotherapy at the University of Ulm, and president of the International Society for Treatment of Sex Offenders, Germany;
— Christian Reimer, director of the Clinic for Psychosomatic Illness and Psychotherapy, University of Giessen, Germany.
