Vatican ducks questions from UN on the worldwide child abuse in Catholic institutions

UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Posted: Tue, 03 Dec 2013

Vatican ducks questions from UN on the worldwide child abuse in Catholic institutions

The Vatican has failed to answer detailed questions by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on cases of child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, brothers or nuns or brought to the attention of the Holy See. These formal questions were raised as part of the review of the reports the UN Committee require states that have ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child to provide every five years.

In a formal response to the UN Committee’s ‘list of issues’ or questions, the Holy See based its failure to answer them on the legal technicality that it is “related but separate and distinct from the Catholic Church”. It added: “it is not the practice of the Holy See to disclose information on the religious discipline of members of the clergy or religious according to canon law, unless there is a related matter concerning international judicial cooperation with a State and the request by the State is made, generally, through specific procedures”.

The UN Committee prefaced its questions by pointing to “the recognition by the Holy See of sexual violence against children committed by members of the clergy, brothers and nuns in numerous countries around the world, and given the scale of the abuses”.

Keith Porteous Wood of the (UK) National Secular Society, which, together with victims groups, has submitted evidence about such abuse to the Committee earlier this year, commented: “Under the direct control of the Pope, the Church operates a firm ‘command and control structure’ over the worldwide Church, particularly over the handling of clerical rape and sexual violence offences. It requires that it is sent all records of the tens of thousands of these criminal offences, and secretes them centrally.

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