UN denounces Vatican over child abuse and demands immediate action

UN denounces Vatican over child abuse and demands immediate action
Devastating UN report demands Vatican 'immediately remove' all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers

The Vatican has failed to acknowledge the huge scale of clerical sex abuse and has implemented policies that have led to "the continuation of the abuse and the impunity of the perpetrators", a UN panel said on Wednesday in a scathing rebuke of the Holy See's handling of the global scandal.

In grimly worded findings released by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the watchdog urged the Holy See to "immediately remove all known and suspected child sexual abusers" from their posts in the church and hand over the cases to law enforcement authorities in the countries concerned.

It also asked the Vatican to ensure that an expert commission set up by Pope Francis last year will "investigate independently" all cases of child sex abuse and the way in which they are handled by the Catholic hierarchy. Records concerning past cases should be opened up so that they can be used to hold the abusers – and those who may have sought to protect them – accountable, the panel added.

The Holy See must establish "clear rules, mechanisms and procedures" for the mandatory reporting of all suspected cases of abuse to civil law enforcement authorities, it said.

The committee said it was "particularly concerned" that in dealing with allegations of child sex abuse, "the Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the church and the protection of the perpetrators above children's best interests, as observed by several national commissions of inquiry."

The Vatican responded testily to the findings, saying that though it would submit them "to a thorough study and examination", it regretted what it perceived to be interference in its affairs. The statement was thought to refer to the committee's remarks on contraception and abortion.

"The Holy See does … regret to see in some points of the concluding observations an attempt to interfere with Catholic church teaching on the dignity of human person and in the exercise of religious freedom," said a Vatican statement.

"The Holy See reiterates its commitment to defending and protecting the rights of the child, in line with the principles promoted by the convention on the rights of the child and according to the moral and religious values offered by Catholic doctrine."

But the report, the recommendations of which are entirely non-binding, was welcomed by those who have long found the Vatican's approach to the scandal wanting.

"This day has been a long time coming, but the international community is finally holding the Vatican accountable for its role in enabling and perpetuating sexual violence in the church," said Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. "The whole world will be watching to ensure that the Vatican takes the concrete steps required by the UN to protect children and end these crimes. Impunity and cover-up, including at the highest levels of the church, will not be tolerated."

Barbara Blaine, president of the US-based Survivors Network of those Abused (Snap), described the report as a "scathing" indictment of the way the Vatican had handled the scandal.

"It's a wake-up call, not to Catholic officials (who have known about and concealed abuse for decades and still do) but for secular officials, especially those in law enforcement, who can and should investigate Catholic abuses and cover-ups and prosecute the church supervisors who are still protecting predators and endangering children," she said.

As part of its wide-ranging remit, the UN committee also expressed concern about how the Holy See's stance on contraception, abortion and homosexuality was affecting minors.

It also said the Vatican needed to launch a full investigation into Ireland's Magdalene Laundries scandal in which thousands of women and girls were abused and enslaved. The report said those who abused and exploited those incarcerated in the laundries run by Irish nuns should be prosecuted if they are still alive.

It urged that "full compensation be paid to the victims and their families" who were caught up in the Magdalene system in Ireland.

While welcoming statements made by the Holy See delegation expressing a commitment to upholding the rights of children, the committee made clear its "deepest concern" about abuse committed by clergy operating "under the authority of the Holy See".

Tens of thousands of children had been abused by clerics worldwide, it said.

"The committee is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the perpetrators," it wrote.

The report came two weeks after the committee grilled a Vatican delegation over the church's response to abuse allegations.

In particular, the committee slammed the practice of moving priests found to have abused children from parish to parish or to other countries "in an attempt to cover up such crimes". Last month a Vatican delegation in Geneva for questioning by the panel accepted criticisms of this practice and said it no longer went on.

But the committee nonetheless noted: "The practice of offenders' mobility, which has allowed many priests to remain in contact with children and to continue to abuse them, still 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."

The UN panel also criticised the Holy See for refusing to hand over data concerning all cases of abuse brought to its attention during the period in question, and their outcomes. It said that confidential disciplinary proceedings had "allowed the vast majority of abusers and almost all those who concealed child sexual abuse to escape judicial proceedings in states where abuses were committed".

It also said the reporting of suspected crimes had been strongly hampered by a "code of silence" among the clergy which had seen those who dared to break it "ostracised, demoted and fired", and cited one well-known instance from 2001 in which a bishop was in effect congratulated for having kept to it.

Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society in Britain, said Francis was now under pressure to prove his determination to take action.

"Pope Francis has already missed opportunities to assert his authority to reverse the church's damaging policies over clerical abuse and unless he responds positively and quickly to the demands of the committee, he risks history judging his whole papacy a failure," he said in a statement.

"Lawyers confirm that evidence abounds of the church at all levels continuing, even following the resignation of Pope Benedict, to do everything in its power to shield abusing Catholic clerics from justice and maintain secrecy, and do the least possible for victims," he said.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/05/un-denounces-vatican-child-abuse

STILL shielding them! Bastards!

Oh here we go, Vatican already trying to wheedle their way out of it:

In a swift and terse response, the Vatican released a statement saying it would submit the findings "to a thorough study and examination" but did not appreciate being asked to change its position on issues it considered immutable.

"The Holy See does … regret to see in some points of the concluding observations an attempt to interfere with Catholic church teaching on the dignity of [the] human person and in the exercise of religious freedom," it said.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer at the UN in Geneva, went further, saying he had been surprised by the findings, which he considered "not up to date" and a distorted depiction that ignored recent progress.

Tomasi, who was part of last month's delegation, said the report seemed "almost to have been prepared before" that meeting, and ignored the "precise responses on various points" that he and other officials had given. Asked by Vatican Radio why he thought the findings had been so harsh, he said he suspected pro-gay rights NGOs had influenced the committee and "reinforced an ideological line" in the UN.

Advocates for the survivors of clerical sex abuse welcomed the committee's findings. "This day has been a long time coming, but the international community is finally holding the Vatican accountable for its role in enabling and perpetuating sexual violence in the church," said Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney at the US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights.

"The whole world will be watching to ensure that the Vatican takes the concrete steps required by the UN to protect children and end these crimes."

Pope Francis has referred to clerical child sex abuse as "the shame of the church", yet has not often spoken out about it, preferring to focus on other issues such as poverty and the evils of the global financial system. In December he announced the establishment of a commission of experts to look at how the church could better protect children from potential abusers.

When they appeared in Geneva last month, Tomasi and Charles Scicluna, a former sex crimes prosecutor at the Vatican and auxiliary bishop of Malta, said guidelines already put in place by the Holy See and Catholic churches around the world had, when properly applied, presented a way of eliminating the scourge of abuse. "The Holy See gets it," Scicluna declared.

But, according to the UN committee, that is yet to be proved. "The committee is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the perpetrators," it wrote in its first concluding observations on the Holy See – a signatory to the UN convention on the rights of the child – since 1995.

Dismissing a key plank of the Holy See's argument – that the church is not comparable to a global business and the Vatican cannot be expected to keep in check all clergy in all parts of the world – the committee said that by ratifying the convention it had committed itself to implementing it "not only on the territory of the Vatican City state but also as the supreme power of the Catholic church through individuals and institutions placed under its authority".

Attacking what it described as a "code of silence" that had restricted the reporting of suspected crimes, the committee criticised the practice of moving priests found to have abused children from parish to parish or to other countries "in an attempt to cover up such crimes".

The committee noted: "The practice of offenders' mobility, which has allowed many priests to remain in contact with children and to continue to abuse them, still 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."

Last month Scicluna told the panel that this was "a grave concern", but said dioceses and parishes were now obliged to pass on information concerning a priest wanting to move on. He also said: "It is not a policy of the Holy See to encourage cover-ups."

The UN panel also criticised the Holy See for refusing to hand over data concerning all cases of abuse brought to its attention during the period in question, and their outcomes. It said confidential disciplinary proceedings had "allowed the vast majority of abusers and almost all those who concealed child sexual abuse to escape judicial proceedings in states where abuses were committed".

The findings were not limited to clerical abuse, exploring other areas – from the classification of "illegitimate" children to the use of so-called baby boxes – where it said the Catholic church could improve its protection of children's rights.

It was particularly critical of the Vatican's handling of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries scandal, in which thousands of women and girls were abused and enslaved, saying a full Vatican investigation should be launched and the abusers prosecuted. It demanded full compensation be paid to the victims and their families who were caught up in the system in Ireland.

Last year the Irish state finally said sorry to 10,000 women and girls incarcerated in Catholic church-run laundries, where they were treated as virtual slaves. The taoiseach, Enda Kenny, said what happened to the Magdalene women had "cast a long shadow over Irish life, over our sense of who we are", and he "deeply regretted and apologised" for the hurt and trauma inflicted.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/05/vatican-un-committee-clerical-sex-abuse-scandal

We need to Wipe this EVIL PAEDOPHILE RING off the face of the Earth.
They are TOO GREAT a THREAT To the Children.

Supporters Should be Tried for Giving Material Aide to Paedophiles

         

Abser-bloody-lutely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

veya_victaous wrote:We need to Wipe this EVIL PAEDOPHILE RING off the face of the Earth.
They are TOO GREAT a THREAT To the Children.

Supporters Should be Tried for Giving Material Aide to Paedophiles

         

Don't just focus on the Catholics either:

AUSTIN, Texas (RNS) The Christian mission field is a “magnet” for sexual abusers, Boz Tchividjian, a Liberty University law professor who investigates abuse said Thursday (Sept. 26) to a room of journalists.

While comparing evangelicals to Catholics on abuse response, ”I think we are worse,” he said at the Religion Newswriters Association conference, saying too many evangelicals had “sacrificed the souls” of young victims.

“Protestants can be very arrogant when pointing to Catholics,” said Tchividjian, a grandson of evangelist Billy Graham and executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), which has investigated sex abuse allegations.

Earlier this summer, GRACE spearheaded an online petition decrying the “silence” and “inattention” of evangelical leaders to sexual abuse in their churches.

http://www.religionnews.com/2013/09/26/billy-grahams-grandson-evangelicals-worse-catholic-church-sex-abuse/

Wonderful! There is something very odd about so called 'believers'.