Pope Francis on Saturday named eight people with reputations as reformers in the fight against child sexual abuse as members of a new “Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors,” a line-up that includes German Jesuit Fr. Hans Zollner, who’s long been on the front lines of the church’s recovery efforts.

Born in the Bavarian city of Regensburg, more or less the hometown of Pope Benedict XVI, Zollner serves as the academic vice-rector of the Jesuit-run Gregorian University in Rome and head of its Institute of Psychology. He holds degrees in philosophy and theology, and was licensed as a psychologist and psychotherapist in 2004.

In 2010 and 2011 he served as a member of the scientific working group of the “Round Table on Child Abuse” created by Germany’s federal government. Zollner has studied the church’s rocky history on the abuse issue at length, publishing the 2010 book, “The Church and Pedophilia – An Open Wound: A Psychological and Pastoral Approach along with fellow Jesuit Fr. Giovanni Cucci.”