UN panel hears Vatican report on abuse

GENEVA

A UN panel in Geneva has begun hearing a report by Vatican officials on the sexual abuse of thousands of children by Roman Catholic clergy.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said the Holy See saw the person of every child as “inviolable — body, mind and spirit”.

The Vatican refused an earlier request for information, saying the cases were the responsibility of the judiciary of countries where abuse took place.

It was accused of responding inadequately to abuse allegations.

Victims say they hope the hearing, which is being broadcast live, will prompt the Church to end its “secrecy”.

Pope Francis has said dealing with abuse is vital for the church’s credibility.

Last month, he announced a Vatican committee would be set up to fight sexual abuse of children in the church and offer help to victims.

He has also strengthened Vatican laws on child abuse, broadening the definition of crimes against minors to include sexual abuse of children.

The Holy See is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a legally binding instrument which commits it to protecting and nurturing the most vulnerable in society.

INTENSE CRITICISM

The Holy See ratified the convention in 1990 but after an implementation report in 1994 it did not submit any progress reports until 2012.

That followed intense criticism after revelations of child sex abuse cases in Europe and beyond in 2010.

It was, Archbishop Tomasi said, important to establish the truth of what had happened in the past, to prevent it ever happening again, to see justice done and to provide healing for the victims.

The Vatican, he told the panel, would welcome any suggestions from the UN panel to implement its obligations.

The committee on the Rights of the Child is expected to ask wide-ranging questions, forcing the Holy See to defend itself in public for the first time.

ABETTING SEXUAL ABUSE

It faces allegations that it enabled the sexual abuse of thousands of children by protecting paedophile priests at the expense of victims.

Last July, the UN committee requested detailed information about the particulars of all sexual abuse cases notified to the Vatican since 1995.
Religious discipline

The questions included whether priests, nuns and monks guilty of sexual crime were allowed to remain in contact with children, what legal action had been taken against them, and whether complainants were silenced.

In its response, the Holy See said it was not its practice to disclose information about the religious discipline of clergy unless specifically requested to by the authorities in the country where they were serving.

It stressed that it had changed the criteria for choosing priests and revised church law to ensure clergy were properly disciplined.