Un Slams Vatican for Protecting Priests over Child Abuse

BBC News
February 5, 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26044852

Vatican officials were questioned in December over why the Holy See would not open its files on priests known to be child abusers

The UN has demanded that the Vatican "immediately remove" all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers, in a report released on Wednesday.

The UN watchdog for children's rights denounced the Holy See for adopting policies allowing priests to sexually abuse thousands of children.

It heavily criticised the Vatican's attitudes towards homosexuality, contraception and abortion.

The Vatican has set up a commission to fight child abuse in the Church.

It is expected to issue a statement on the report later on Wednesday.

The committee's recommendations are non-binding and there is no enforcement mechanism.

'Offenders' mobility'

In its report, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) said the Holy See should open its files on members of the clergy who "concealed their crimes" so that they can be held accountable.

The committee said it was gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed.

In the report, the committee expressed its "deepest concern about child sexual abuse committed by members of the Catholic churches who operate under the authority of the Holy See, with clerics having been involved in the sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children worldwide".

It also lambasted the "practice of offenders' mobility", referring to the transfer of child abusers from parish to parish within countries, and sometimes abroad.

The committee said this practice places "children in many countries at high risk of sexual abuse, as dozens of child sexual offenders are reported to be still in contact with children".

It also called on a commission created by Pope Francis in December to investigate all cases of child sexual abuse "as well as the conduct of the Catholic hierarchy in dealing with them".

The report's findings come after Vatican officials were questioned in public last month over why they would not release data and what they were doing to prevent future abuse.

The Vatican has denied any official cover-up. However, in December, it refused a UN request for data on abuse on the grounds that it only released such information if requested to do so by another country as part of legal proceedings.

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says the Vatican has set up new guidelines to protect children from predator priests.

But, he adds, bishops in many parts of the world have tended to concentrate on protecting and defending the reputation of priests rather than listening to the complaints of victims of paedophile priests.

Meanwhile several catholic dioceses in the US have been forced into bankruptcy after paying out huge sums in compensation to victims of abuse by clergy.

Barbara Blaine, president of a group representing US victims of abuse by priests, told the BBC the UN report "reaffirms everything we've been saying. It shows that the Vatican has put the reputation of church officials above protection of children."

"Church officials knew about it and they refused to stop it. Nothing has changed. Despite all the rhetoric from Pope Francis and Vatican officials, they refuse to take action that will make this stop."