Pope Francis decreed its establishment on 22 March 2014.
In working groups, experts discuss prevention and intervention in the church, send recommendations for dealing with victims of abuse to all dioceses and deal with the training of church personnel.
In recent years, the commission has spoken out several times on current discussions and occasionally proposed changes to church law.
However, the commission has also repeatedly attracted attention due to disputes and disagreements about the right way to deal with abuse.
A look back.
It is said to have been Cardinal Marx who persuaded the Pope to set up a commission on child protection in 2013.
Together with Boston Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley - who has chaired the committee ever since - Marx was the biggest supporter of the idea among the eight papal advisors, explained Jesuit Hans Zollner in an interview ten years ago.
Marx and O'Malley knew from their home countries and dioceses what explosive power the abuse complex harbours for the institution of the church.
O'Malley had been standing in front of the ruins of the scandal in Boston since 2003 and Marx had been publicly involved with abuse in Germany since 2010 at the latest.
Vatican spokesman Frederico Lombardi emphasised that Francis was demonstrating that the protection of minors is one of the most urgent tasks of the Church.
Shortly after the start - the first row
Shortly after the commission was established, the first row broke out, which is symptomatic of how the Church deals with sexual violence within its own ranks: British commission member Peter Saunders accused the Church of doing a poor job of dealing with bishops who have failed in their duties.
Saunders - himself affected by abuse - would like to see a more intensive debate about the motives of perpetrators of abuse.
The label "paedophile" was not enough of an explanation - we also need to talk about celibacy and the loneliness of priests, said the Briton.
The head of the episcopal commission, Mr O'Malley, countered this.
The cleric publicly contradicted the celibacy thesis, saying that most offences take place within the family.
The diverging perceptions of reappraisal and prevention work from the perspective of victims and institutions have accompanied the commission and reform debates to this day.
Shortly afterwards, some members of the commission protested against the appointment of the Chilean bishop Juan Barros Madrid as head pastor of Osorno.
The faithful accused the clergyman of having covered up sexual offences committed by another priest against young people.
The Pope stood by his candidate for bishop and Barros Madrid became Bishop of Osorno.
He finally resigned in 2018 - the public prosecutor's office investigated him.
The members of the commission were right, and the hierarchy was once again forced to repent - another recurring element of the church's history of abuse.
In the summer of 2015, Commission member Saunders spoke out again and pointed out the next problematic personal matter: Cardinal George Pell, who was deeply involved in the Australian abuse scandal.
According to Saunders, the curial cardinal is "untenable" in the Vatican.
Pell has been accused of abuse by various people since 2008. Saunders described the former Archbishop of Sydney and then Prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for Economic Affairs as "hard, cold-hearted, almost sociopathic".
Francis should "take the strictest possible action against him" and remove the cardinal from the Vatican.
Rome defended Pell against Saunders: Vatican spokesman Lombardi explained that Saunders was of course not speaking on behalf of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and emphasised that it was not the task of the body to investigate and pass judgement.
Pell declared that he would take legal action against Saunders.
A lengthy trial began against Pell, and he was ultimately acquitted"in case of doubt in favour of the accused".
However, the Roman rumour mill surrounding the cardinal's life is still buzzing today.
After these quarrels, Saunders took time out in February 2016 - not without once again clearly criticising the Vatican's handling of abuse: "When Jesus cleansed the temple, he did not appoint a commission, but simply overturned the tables and threw out the merchants and money changers."
The Pope must take more decisive action against abuse in the Church, he said. Some of his commission colleagues then accused him of talking too much to the media and putting their work in a bad light.
In December 2017, Saunders finally resigned from the commission.
There was now no longer a stakeholder representative on the commission.
The Irish commission member and abuse victim Marie Collins had already taken this route - she accused the Vatican authorities of being unwilling to co-operate.
The "straw that broke the camel's back" for her was that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had rejected her proposal to respond to the numerous letters from victims of abuse that arrived there.
This led to a dispute with the then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, whose office was responsible for dealing with cases of abuse.
Zollner also let it be known that Collins was not alone in her criticism: "There are places and people of whom Marie and other members of the Commission have the impression that they are not responding proactively to what we are asking them to do and what the Pope is demanding," the Jesuit said at the time.
Müller clearly rejectedthe criticism that the Vatican is not taking decisive enough action against perpetrators of abuse: "That is not the case. It must be understood that we as a church do not pass secular judgement," said the cardinal.
The Pope had set up the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to show that abuse is a serious crime that must be combated.
He wanted to create more awareness worldwide.
However, it is not the task of the commission to support the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin added that the commission was not a judicial body.
It has the task of "ensuring a climate in the Church in which children and young people are defended and protected and which at the same time prevents cases of abuse from being repeated".
Following Collin's resignation, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors proposed the establishment of a central office to respond to letters on the subject of abuse.
In the winter of 2017, doubts were increasingly raised about the Pope's interest in education and prevention.
After the mandates of the first commission members came to an end and the statutes issued for the first term of office also lost their validity, the Pope had not announced anything about the progress of his child protection project for weeks.
The accusation that Francis was treating the work of his commission as subordinate was bound to arise.
In a flying press conference, the Pope replied that he wanted to make new appointments in the coming weeks.
A list of candidates is available.
According to the Pope, there were still a few points to be clarified in the CVs. Which is what happened.
The group is now to once again include people who have suffered abuse, but no more has been communicated publicly.
The Vatican said it wanted to maintain discretion.
With the long-awaited reform of the Curia, Francis docked the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2022: For the first time, Francis had thus placed the importance of child protection at the centre of the Church's central government, said commission head O'Malley in the course of this restructuring.
O'Malley later criticised the move and expressed the fear that the incorporation of his commission into the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith could lead to the topic of abuse being neglected in discussions between the heads of the curia: "The Secretariat of State has made it clear that the commission does not enjoy the prestige, status or competence of a dicastery and is therefore a subordinate organ of the curia in terms of weight, competence and the right to participate in the governing functions of the curia."
Francis justified the move by saying that he did not want a "satellite commission" that revolved around the Vatican organisation chart but was not connected to it.
The commission was also given the mandate to urge the universal church to protect children.
Observers saw this step as an upgrading and prioritisation of the fight against abuse in the Church.
However, the resignation of Catholic child protection expert Hans Zollner in 2023 disillusioned many.
The high-profile safeguarding expert withdrew from the papal commission due to "structural and practical problems".
Mr Zollner explained that Pope Francis needed to focus more on dealing with abuse.
"Unfortunately, he has not made it the number one priority of his pontificate," said the Jesuit.
It remains a matter of declarations of intent where it is not clear what the actual goal is.
"During my work for the commission, I have noticed problems that urgently need to be addressed and that have made it impossible for me to continue my involvement," said Zollner.
The selection criteria for the commission members as well as their exact roles and tasks were unclear.
Zollner also criticised the chairman of the commission: He could only fulfil his office well if he spent a lot of time in Rome and "if he was prepared to get into the ring".
In particular, after the Commission was placed under the authority of the doctrine, a chairman was needed "who is also willing to enter into conflicts", said Zollner. "And Cardinal O'Malley does not do that."
Zollner had tried several times to submit his warnings internally and in writing, but had received no response.
Observers described Zollner's move as "very worrying".
With the first Roman stage of the 2023 World Synod - one of Francis' main concerns - the commission took an unusually offensive stance with an open letter: protection against sexual abuse should be a priority at the World Synod, according to the members.
They publicly called on the Pope and church leadership to show greater commitment to protecting those affected.
The Church is also responsible for the suffering of those affected, as it is unable or even unwilling to recognise the reality of its actions.
The members of the synod call on the members to devote a lot of time and space to the testimony of those affected.
The topic of abuse, prevention and education should be considered throughout the entire synod process.
This also applies to the discussions on church structure and leadership models.
Just a few days before its tenth anniversary, the commission has now submitted an interim report on the status of abuse prevention in the Church to its client - Pope Francis.
Whether and how it will be published is still unclear.
According to reports, the commission members are in favour of publication.
However, the Pope alone decides on this.
The handling of the interim report and the role that abuse will play at the now modified World Synod will show what priority the fight against sexual violence has in Francis' pontificate.