A prominent survivor of clerical sex abuse has resigned from a special Vatican commission that was created by Pope Francis to tackle the problem, saying the church's most senior clerics continue to put other concerns" before the safety of children and vulnerable adults. Marie Collins, who was molested by a priest when she was 13 years old, said in a written statement she had made a final decision to resign after she learned that a Vatican department was failing to comply with a basic new recommendation that all correspondence from victims and survivors should receive a response. "I learned in a letter from this particular [congregation] last month that they are refusing to do so," Collins wrote in a searing statement to the National Catholic Reporter. "I find it impossible to listen to public statements about the deep concern in the church for the care of those whose lives have been blighted by abuse, yet to watch privately as a congregation in the Vatican refuses to even acknowledge their letters." She added: "It is a reflection of how this whole abuse crisis in the church has been handled: with fine words in public and contrary actions behind closed doors." Collins's decision to leave the commission comes one year after the only other abuse survivor who was appointed to the commission, Peter Saunders, was forced to take a leave of absence after he complained the commission was doing far too little to tackle abuse.