Pope Leo XIV is signalling his commitment to continuing the fight against clergy sexual abuse. He has appointed a French bishop, Bishop Thibault Verny, to head the Vatican’s child protection advisory commission.

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry as the new president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

France’s Bishop Thibault Verny, 59, will head the Vatican’s child protection advisory commission, replacing American Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

Leo will disappear further this weekend when he begins a six-week vacation in his first break since his historic election May 8. Leo is resuming the papal tradition of escaping the Roman heat for the relatively cooler climes of Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer retreat on Lake Alban, south of Rome.

Overlooking Lake Albano on a hill south of Rome, Castel Gandolfo was for centuries a much-loved papal summer retreat — until Pope Francis renounced both the estate and summer holidays. Now the tiny town is reclaiming its vaunted status as a Vatican outpost,