Clergy sexual abuse victims say Benedict failed to take serious action

UNITED STATES
CTV (Canada)

CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013

As Benedict XVI’s papacy ended Thursday with crowds of well-wishers at the Vatican showing their support, clerical sex abuse victims continued to call for action against child predators within the Church, disappointed in what they see as a failure by the pontiff to take real action.

The U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, announced on the same day that it has submitted a report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, blasting the Vatican’s handling of the “ongoing worldwide sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.”

The Vatican has pledged to report to the UN on its efforts to protect children from abuse and sexual violence.

But SNAP said little has been done to address the problem.

The group teamed up with the Center for Constitutional Rights, a non-profit legal group,to produce its submission to the UN, which outlines how Church policies and practices have enabled priests to take advantage of children.

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