The U.n. Confronts the Vatican

New York Times
February 5, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/opinion/the-un-confronts-the-vatican.html?_r=1

A United Nations report excoriated the Vatican on Wednesday for failing to live up to international commitments to protect children, finding the widespread sexual abuse of children by priests had been compounded by church policies that allowed abusers to continue to prey on youngsters.

The documented evidence in recent decades shows the finding by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child was a well-deserved judgment, particularly as Vatican officials continue to insist the many thousands of cases of child rape and abuse by clergy were a matter outside their domain and best left to the discretion of local civil authorities.

The United Nations panel went to the heart of the matter in rejecting the church officials’ claims that they were responsible for enforcing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child only within the geographical limits of Vatican City and not globally through their power over the Roman Catholic diocesan hierarchy.

In practice, this policy fed the pattern of cover-up by local church officials who sent abusers to other parishes and ducked the obligation to notify civil authorities of crimes. Since it was the Vatican that ratified the children’s rights convention, it is responsible for ensuring its provisions are followed down to the parish level, the report said.

The panel demanded that the Vatican, which has been overseeing abuse cases in Rome in recent years, open its archives to identify not only rogue priests but their superiors who kept the crimes hidden from criminal prosecutors. The committee’s findings, while nonbinding, should be of considerable interest to those who say church officials have not done enough to disclose all the facts and make sure stronger protections are in place. For one thing, the Vatican could order all dioceses to notify local law enforcement of abuse cases, regardless of differing national policies.

In responding to the panel, the Vatican said it would study the report but complained that it interfered with church teaching and religious freedom — a reference perhaps to the panel’s comments on the church’s position on abortion, contraception and gay rights. The main issue of the report, however, was the protection of children from a scourge within the church that has damaged it severely. Dozens of predatory priests were found still working with children, the panel warned.

In responding to sharp questioning from the committee last month, Bishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s former chief prosecutor of sexual abuse, flatly insisted: “The Holy See gets it.” That remains to be seen. The panel found some promise in the election of the “progressive” Pope Francis, but the powerful Vatican bureaucracy is far from demanding greater responsibility from diocesan leaders.