Reverend Hans Zellner, one of the leading members of the Vatican’s commission investigating child sexual abuse, announced today that he has resigned from the commission, citing concerns about how it operates.

Zellner was one of the founding members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, a commission created by Pope Francis in 2014 after decades of unsolved child abuse scandals within the Roman Catholic Church.

His sudden resignation is a blow to the image of the Roman Catholic Church and comes after the resignation of several members, who expressed complaints that the Commission had no real power and was facing resistance from within.

“Over the past few years, I have been increasingly concerned about how the Commission, in my view, has recorded progress towards achieving (the goal of protecting children and vulnerable people),” the Jesuit priest said in the statement he issued.

Zellner clarified that his resignation was effective as of March 14. It added that it cannot face problems “particularly in the areas of responsibility, compliance, accountability and transparency”.

The head of the Commission, US Cardinal Sean O’Malley, claimed earlier today that Zellner resigned due to a heavy workload.

Last year, the pope gave the Commission more powers and under the new Constitution of the Holy See the Commission falls under the Vatican’s Ministry for the Rightness of the Faith, which rules on abuse cases, and authorized the Commission to draw up an annual report on cases allegedly committed by clerics. to have committed sexual abuse.

In his statement, Zellner denounced unclear hiring practices, roles and the commission’s ill-defined relationship with the Vatican’s Ministry of Faith.

He also complained about “inadequate” financial and decision-making accountability.

Zellner, who also heads a center for the study of abuse cases at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, said he remains open to talks with the commission and that he hopes it can resolve its issues.

He announced his resignation days after Pope Francis updated the Catholic Church’s anti-sexual abuse rules, extending the scope of those rules to lay leaders of the Catholic Church. Also the new rules provide that both minors and adults can be victims.

Abuse scandals have tarnished the Vatican’s image and posed a major challenge for the pope, who has passed a series of measures over the past 10 years aimed at making the Church hierarchy accountable. The results of these efforts are mixed.