Vatican Submits Report to Un Committee against Torture

Prensa Latina
May 5, 2014

http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2649591&Itemid=1


Rome, May 5 (Prensa Latina) The Vatican presented today a report to the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) to clarify accusations against priests for abuse of minors.

Silvano Tomasi, representative of the Holy See before the said Committee in Geneva, started the first of two days of analysis of an Initial Periodic Report about the attitude of the Catholic Church in addressing reports of cases of religious leaders involved in such abuses.

The presentation of the document, quoted by Vatican Radio, refers to several legal clarifications about dozens of cases of sexual abuse of minors, discussed last January before the UN Committee on Rights of the Child.

It says that the State of Vatican City is a subdivision of the Holy See and highlights difficulties of the former to exercise its jurisdiction to investigate cases outside that territory, without violating other nations' sovereignty.

The State of Vatican City, created officially in 1929, ratified CAT in 2002 and, according to the report submitted by Tomasi, it looks for the broadest cooperation in the global fight against violence and torture.

The text notes that the opposition to practices causing serious mental and physical suffering, is among principles of the Catholic Church teachings.

A UN committee was created to discuss concrete measures to put an end to cases of minor abuse by priests worldwide and investigate and try those involved in such actions, an aspect wre little progress has been made so far.

In the wake of discussions on cases of sexual abuse, the consultative Vatican's Committee for the Protection of Minors was created, and it held its firts meeting today.

A communique of the said body says that at a given point it will propose initiatives to promote local liability worldwide and mutual exchange of "better practices" to protect all infants through training programs, education and response against abuses.

Besides the Catholic promise that our parish churches, schools and institutions should be safe places for the minors, we commit ourselves to guarantee that vulnerable children and adults are protected from abuses, says the text.