UNITED KINGDOM
Channel 4
Jackie Long
In some ways, the damning UN report into the Vatican’s handling of child abuse is no surprise, but the details still hold the power to appal.
Priests who were well known abusers were moved from parish to parish or sent abroad.
Tens of thousands of children across the world suffered while the Vatican, with its code of silence, allowed the vast majority of their abusers to evade justice.
Nuns and priests who did speak out were ostracised and condemned. Priests who refused to denounce child abusers were congratulated.
This was a Church which put its reputation above the safety and well being of children.
Perhaps worst of all, the report says, the evidence it has gathered proves children are still at risk from abuse by priests allowed to live and work unchecked in many countries across the world.
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