Reverend Dr. Hans Zollner, SJ will deliver the 2022 Keeley Vatican Lecture. Generously supported by Terrence R. Keeley, the lecture is now in its second decade. It provides a way for the Nanovic Institute to deepen Notre Dame’s connection to the Holy See by bringing distinguished representatives from the Vatican to Notre Dame to explore questions involving Notre Dame’s Catholic mission. Each year’s lecturer is chosen by the Institute in close consultation with its Advisory Board and the Notre Dame administration.
A native of Regensburg, Germany, Fr. Zollner is Ordinary Professor at the Institute of Psychology and President of the Center for Child Protection, both at the Pontifical Gregorian University. A theologian and licensed psychotherapist, Dr. Zollner is a leading expert and scholar on the prevention and healing of childhood sexual abuse who has spoken about the Church's role in combating childhood sexual abuse in more than seventy nations. He has played a leading role in international meetings on this issue, including the "Towards Healing and Renewal" symposium on sexual abuse of minors (February 2012), the world congress "Child Dignity in the Digital World" (2017), and the summit on Child Protection in the Vatican (2019). In 2014, Pope Francis appointed Fr. Zollner to the new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, reappointing him for a second term in 2018.
Originally published at nanovic.nd.edu.