UNITED STATES
Talk Radio News Service
By LUKE VARGAS
UNITED NATIONS (TRNS) – The legal team representing thousands of individuals abused by Catholic priests has published a new report in response to comments made by the Vatican to the United Nations last year.
The latest report by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) comes on the heels of an appeal to the International Court of Justice earlier this month to take the Vatican to trial over its alleged complicity in cases of child sexual abuse worldwide.
According to CCR estimates, up to 100,000 individuals have been the victims of sexual violence by clergy between 1981 and 2005.
With the retirement of Pope Benedict XVI now underway, and the selection of a new pontiff in the coming weeks, the issue of criminal behavior by the Catholic clergy is poised to dog the church for years to come.
According to the CCR report, the Vatican overlooked its gravest abuses when it provided a 2011 report assessing its compliance with the U.N.’s Convention of the Rights of the Child human rights treaty.
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