In a devastating report, the UN committee also severely criticized the Holy See for its attitudes toward homosexuality, contraception and abortion.
VATICAN CITY—The
Vatican “systematically” adopted policies that allowed priests to rape
and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, a UN human rights
committee said Wednesday, urging the Holy See to open its files on
pedophiles and bishops who concealed their crimes.
In a devastating
report hailed by abuse victims, the UN committee severely criticized the
Holy See for its attitudes toward homosexuality, contraception and
abortion and said it should change its own canon law to ensure
children's rights and their access to health care are guaranteed.
The Vatican promptly
objected and its UN ambassador accused the committee of having betrayed
the international body's own objectives by allowing itself to be swayed
by pro-gay ideologues. He said it appeared the committee simply hadn't
listened when the Holy See outlined all the measures it has taken to
protect children.
The report, which took
the Vatican by surprise in its harsh tone, puts renewed pressure on
Pope Francis to move decisively on the abuse front and make good on
pledges to create a Vatican commission to study sex abuse and recommend
best practices to fight it. The commission was announced in December,
but few details have been released since then.
The committee issued
its recommendations after subjecting the Holy See to a daylong
interrogation last month on its implementation of the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child, the key UN treaty on child protection, which
the Holy See ratified in 1990.
Critically, the
committee rejected the Vatican's longstanding argument that it doesn't
control bishops or their abusive priests, saying the Holy See was
responsible for implementing the treaty not just in the Vatican City
State but around the world “as the supreme power of the Catholic Church
through individuals and institutions placed under its authority.”
In its report, the
committee blasted the “code of silence” that has long been used to keep
victims quiet, saying the Holy See had “systematically placed
preservation of the reputation of the church and the alleged offender
over the protection of child victims.” It called on the Holy See to
provide compensation to victims and hold accountable not just the
abusers, but also those who covered up their crimes.
“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,” the report said.
It called for Francis'
nascent abuse commission to conduct an independent investigation of all
cases of priestly abuse and the way the Catholic hierarchy has
responded over time, and urged the Holy See to establish clear rules for
the mandatory reporting of abuse to police and to support laws that
allow victims to report crimes even after the statute of limitations has
expired.
No Catholic bishop has
ever been sanctioned by the Vatican for sheltering an abusive priest,
and only in 2010 did the Holy See direct bishops to report abusers to
police where law enforcement requires it. Vatican officials have
acknowledged that bishop accountability remains a major problem and have
suggested that under Francis, things might begin to change.
The committee's
recommendations are non-binding and there is no enforcement mechanism.
Instead, the UN asked the Vatican to implement the recommendations and
report back by 2017. The Vatican was 14 years late submitting its most
recent report.
The committee is made
up of independent experts, not other UN member states — the case on the
larger and often politicized UN Human Rights Council, which also sits in
Geneva. The Committee on the Rights of the Child is one of 10 UN bodies
that monitor implementation of the core UN human rights treaties, and
its 18 members include academics, sociologists and child development
specialists from around the globe.
Archbishop Silvano
Tomasi, who headed the Vatican delegation at the Jan. 16 session in
Geneva, was clearly taken aback by the scathing tone of the report.
“It seems as if the
document was prepared before the committee meeting, where the Vatican
gave detailed responses on various points that weren't reported in this
concluding document or seem to not have been taken into consideration,”
he told Vatican Radio.
While most attention
has focused on child sex abuse, the committee's recommendations extended
far beyond, into issues about discrimination against children and their
rights to adequate health care, matters that touch on core church
teaching about life and sexual morals.
The committee, for
example, urged the Vatican to amend its canon law to identify
circumstances where access to abortion can be permitted for children,
such as to save the life of a young mother. It urged the Holy See to
ensure that sex education, including access to information about
contraception and preventing HIV, is mandatory in Catholic schools. It
called for the Holy See to use its moral authority to condemn
discrimination against homosexual children, or children raised by
same-sex couples.
Church teaching holds
that life begins at conception. The Vatican, which therefore opposes
abortion and artificial contraception, calls for respect for gays, but
considers homosexual acts to be “intrinsically disordered.” The Vatican
has a history of diplomatic confrontation with the United Nations over
such issues.
Tomasi said the call
to reconsider abortion ran against the UN treaty's own objectives to
protect the life of children before and after birth, and he accused
pro-gay rights and gay marriage advocacy groups of having “reinforced an
ideological line” with the committee.
Benyam Mezmur, a
committee member and Ethiopian academic on children's legal rights,
rejected any such criticism and said the committee report was balanced
and was aimed purely at ensuring the treaty was implemented.
“The Committee on the
Rights of the Child is not in the business of saying 'Well said.' We are
in the business of saying 'Well done.' We want to see concrete
measures,” he said in a phone interview from Geneva.
Austen Ivereigh,
co-ordinator of Catholic Voices, a church advocacy group, said the
report was a “shocking display of ignorance and high-handedness.”
He said it failed to
acknowledge the progress that has been made in recent years and that the
Catholic Church in many places is now considered a leader in
safeguarding children. And he noted that the committee seemed unable to
grasp the distinction between the responsibilities and jurisdiction of
the Holy See, and local churches on the ground.
“It takes no account
of the particularities of the Holy See, treating it as if it were the HQ
of a multinational corporation,” he said in an email.
But victims groups
hailed the report as a wake-up call to secular law enforcement officials
to investigate abuse and any coverups, and prosecute church officials
who are still protecting predator priests.
“This report gives
hope to the hundreds of thousands of deeply wounded and still suffering
clergy sex abuse victims across the world,” said Barbara Blaine,
president of the main U.S. victim's group SNAP. “Now it's up to secular
officials to follow the UN's lead and step in to safeguard the
vulnerable because Catholic officials are either incapable or unwilling
to do so.”
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/02/05/vatican_systematically_allowed_priests_to_rape_children_says_un_report.html
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/02/05/vatican_systematically_allowed_priests_to_rape_children_says_un_report.html
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