Pope Will Speak at United Nations

SNAP
January 19, 2015

http://www.snapnetwork.org/rome_pope_at_un

Pope Francis confirmed today that he'll speak to the United Nations in NYC later this year.

[chicago.suntimes.com]

When he does, we urge him to directly address the two UN panel reports that are highly critical of how top Catholic officials still endanger kids, move predators and maintain secrecy around clergy sex crimes.

Francis has basically ignored these compelling reports while defensive underlings ducked, dodged and denied the solid evidence in them and attacked the motives of the dedicated volunteers who wrote them.

While making progress on church morale, finances and governance, Francis has made minimal gestures on abuse and cover ups. He must do more. We strongly urge diplomats and UN staff to prod the pope to take tangible action to expose crimes, punish enablers, help prosecutors, deter cover ups and make kids safer right now by ousting and revealing both clerics who commit and conceal sexual violence.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We were founded in 1988 and have more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)