ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

There is little doubt but that the “negative” tone of yesterday’s UN report took the Holy See by surprise.
Three weeks ago, when the Vatican made its deposition in Geneva, it had done so in a climate of cordial co-operation, where its answers to hard questions seemed well received.

The Vatican delegation believed it had managed to get across one of its key points: that the Holy See had finally begun to get its house in order on the clerical sex abuse issue.

Implicit point

That point was implicit in a remark made in Geneva by former Vatican prosecutor Bishop Charles Scicluna, who said the Holy See now “gets it”, suggesting that in the past it had misunderstood and underestimated the clerical sex abuse issue.

The man who led that Holy See delegation, the Vatican’s permanent representative in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, seemed to reflect this view when he told Vatican Radio yesterday: “The report . . . points out a rather negative approach to what the Holy See has been doing and has already achieved in the area of protection of children. The first impression is that the report is in some ways not up to date.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Washington Times

By Meredith Somers-The Washington Times Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Conservative Catholic groups expressed outrage Wednesday over a U.N. panel’s scathing report on the Vatican’s sex abuse scandal, saying the oversight group overstepped its authority by calling for the Catholic Church to change some of its fundamental laws on homosexuality, birth control and abortion.

The Holy See referred to some parts of the report as “an attempt to interfere” with church teachings, and other Catholic advocates called the document offensive and an attack on the church.

“It shows a certain ignorance of how the church works,” said Ashley McGuire of The Catholic Association. “They don’t just change canon law. The church’s teachings, many of them are thousands of years old and are grounded in deep moral principle. To just fire a shot off the bow and not look at the actual reality of the last 10 years seems totally unfair and undermines the credibility of the report.”

Issued Wednesday by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, the report is a response to the Holy See’s January update on how it is handling issues related to decades of child sex abuse by priests in the U.S. and around the world, and what it is doing to help the thousands of victims.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

Is the Catholic Church now responsible for hunting down and shadowing every past employee accused of abuse, and then constantly publicizing their whereabouts, no matter how long ago the alleged abuse occurred? A recent front page article for the Philadelphia Daily News by William Bender certainly appears to suggest so.

There can be no doubt that the alleged crimes committed by former Philadelphia priest James Brzyski years ago were abominable. But in an especially bad piece of journalism filled with hype and sensationalism (see the image of the front page of the Daily News that day), Bender quite incredibly faults the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for not issuing perpetual public updates on the exact whereabouts of Brzyski, even though he last functioned as a priest some 30 years ago.

Consider the following facts which Bender either ignored or only summarily mentioned:

* Records show that when the Archdiocese of Philadelphia first learned of allegations of abuse concerning Brzyski in 1984, it immediately removed him from his assignment;
* Bryzyski never again functioned publicly as a priest once the Archdiocese removed him; and
* the Archdiocese has publicly posted Brzyski’s assignment record on its web site for several years for anyone with an internet connection to review.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Review

SUBMITTED ON FEBRUARY 05, 2014

The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that the Archdiocese of St. Louis must release the names of alleged victims and priests who have been accused of sexual abuse of minors.

In its Feb. 5 ruling, the court denied a writ of prohibition requested by the archdiocese in response to a recent court order by Judge Robert Dierker granting a plaintiff’s attorney’s request for the release of contact information of alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse and of priests who have been accused of abuse. The ruling covers abuse allegations first made within the time frame of July 1, 1983 and June 30, 2003.

All information to be released is subject to a protective order, entered by Dierker, to prohibit public disclosure.

A statement from the archdiocese said that it will comply with the order. The statement also noted that although some allegations date back as far as the 1940s, all were reported within a 20-year window from 1983-2003. Most of the allegations predate the Catholic Church’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which was passed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002.

Dierker’s order stemmed from a 2011 lawsuit filed by a woman who said she was sexually abused by the former Father Joseph Ross, who has since been removed from the priesthood and from the clerical state.

In its statement, the archdiocese said it litigated to protect the privacy rights of all involved, including victims who had no connection to current litigation and who had come forth confidentially regarding their reported allegations. The request for information includes names, addresses and phone numbers.

“It is our fervent hope that today’s ruling will not deter victims from coming forward to report abuse,” according to the statement. “Sexual abuse is a sin and a crime. It remains the firm commitment of the Archdiocese of St. Louis to root out this evil whenever and wherever it presents itself within our ranks.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ROME
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

There was widespread reaction in Rome, in Ireland and across the world to the report by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

In Rome, the Holy See issued a statement rejecting the Geneva committee’s attacks on Catholic teaching in the area of sexual mores.

“The Holy See . . . regrets to see in some points of the concluding observations an attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of the human person and in the exercise of religious freedom,” it said.

The UN watchdog for children’s rights said the Holy See should hand over its archives on sexual abuse so that culprits, as well as “those who concealed their crimes”, could be held accountable. Photograph: Tony Gentile/ReutersReputation of church ‘placed above children’s best interests’
“The Holy See reiterates its commitment to defending and protecting the rights of the child, in line with the principles promoted by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and according to the moral and religious values offered by the Catholic Church.”

‘Discriminatory’

Paragraph 25 of the committee’s report complains about the use of “discriminatory” language such as illegitimate children. It also argues that church teaching can lead to “the social stigmatisation of and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adolescents and children raised by same-sex couples”.

Lobby groups for victims of clerical sex abuse said the UN body’s findings supported long-held opinions.

In Ireland, One in Four said: “The report contains a scathing critique of the Catholic Church’s attempts to cover up the extent of the sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy and its failures to report incidents of abuse to civil authorities. This report by an international neutral body confirms what has long been suspected: that the Vatican had a far greater knowledge of the extent of clerical sexual abuse than it has ever acknowledged.”

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said the report was “a devastating critique of systemic child protection failures by the Vatican”, and called on the papal nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown, to indicate what action would be taken “to ensure that these shortcomings are rectified”.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Fox 2

[with video]

February 5, 2014, by Charles Jaco

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI)– The Missouri Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the St. Louis Archdiocese to turn over the names of more than 100 priests suspected of sexually abusing children over decades.

The names of the priests will be sealed, available only to the attorneys for a woman suing the archdiocese. She claims she was sexually abused by a priest starting when she was five years old and that the list of names going back to the 1980′s will show the archdiocese has a decades-old pattern of covering up for pedophile priests.

The Archdiocese was first ordered to turn over the names by a St. Louis Circuit Court Judge in November. But the archdiocese repeatedly appealed saying it was concerned with the privacy of both the accused and the victims. Following Wednesday’s Missouri Supreme Court ruling, the archdiocese says it will turn over the names, covering over 200separate incidents dating back to the 1980′s. In a statement, the Archdiocese said in part:

“The Archdiocese had litigated to protect the privacy rights of all concerned, including victims who had no connection to the current litigation and who had expressed anonymity regarding their reported allegation. The request for information includes not only names, but also addresses and phone numbers.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SPAIN
Zee News

Madrid: Spanish prosecutors have opened an investigation into newly chosen Spanish Cardinal Fernando Sebastian Aguilar after a gay-rights group accused him of hate speech for calling homosexuality a “defect”.

The public prosecutor for the southern province of Malaga, Juan Carlos Lopez, said he had opened a preliminary inquiry “to clarify whether the allegations constitute a criminal offence,” according to a document obtained yesterday.

Sebastian, who is close to Pope Francis, is one of 19 new cardinals chosen by the pontiff last month to be officially appointed on February 22.

A week after being picked, the 84-year-old archbishop emeritus of Pamplona gave an interview to a Malaga newspaper that drew condemnation from gay-rights activists.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW JERSEY
Star-Ledger

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
on February 05, 2014

The most surprising thing about today’s scathing United Nations rebuke of the Vatican over decades of unchecked child abuse had nothing to do with its content. The allegations of systemic rape and cover-ups weren’t new, nor even shocking. The report compiles a tragic list of known crimes, and scolds the Catholic Church for inaction.

The surprise, instead, was the church’s response: outright criticism of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which conducted the inquiry, coupled with the tired “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” defense the church reserves for its strongest critics.

At its lowest point, the Vatican’s response accused the committee – a panel of independent experts on global children’s issues, not UN member states – of being co-opted by gay rights and gay marriage supporters.

The clumsy retort shows that Pope Francis – who’s winning fans even among the world’s atheists for his commentary on emerging issues of gay rights and income inequality – hasn’t scratched the surface of the church’s Dark Ages mindset.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
CTV (Canada)

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, February 5, 2014

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis came under new pressure Wednesday to punish bishops who covered up for pedophile priests when a UN human rights panel accused the Vatican of systematically protecting its reputation instead of looking out for the safety of children.

In a scathing report that thrilled victims and stunned the Vatican, the United Nations committee said the Holy See maintained a “code of silence” that enabled priests to sexually abuse tens of thousands of children worldwide over decades with impunity.

Among other things, the panel called on the Vatican to immediately remove all priests known or suspected to be child molesters, open its archives on abusers and the bishops who covered up for them, and turn the abuse cases over to law enforcement authorities for investigation and prosecution.

The committee largely brushed aside the Vatican’s claims that it has already instituted new safeguards, and it accused the Roman Catholic Church of still harbouring criminals.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
The New York Times

LAURIE GOODSTEIN, NICK CUMMING-BRUCE and JIM YARDLEY
FEB. 5, 2014

In a hard-hitting report applauded by victims as a landmark in the Roman Catholic Church’s clerical sex-abuse scandal, a United Nations committee on Wednesday called on the Vatican to remove all child abusers from its ranks, report them to law enforcement and open the church’s archives so that bishops and other officials who concealed crimes could be held accountable.

The report, issued by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, is likely to put pressure on Pope Francis to make concrete changes in the way the church handles abuse cases and put some muscle into the commission on abuse that he announced in December, whose members and mission have not yet been specified.

The Vatican responded on Wednesday that it had already made many of the changes called for in the report, and that the report’s conclusions were out of date.

The report, however, was harshly critical of the church’s current practices, not just those of the past. “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 concluded. …

But the Vatican press office said in a statement that it regretted to see the United Nations committee “attempt to interfere” with Catholic teaching and the church’s “exercise of religious freedom.”

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a blog post that the report was “weakened” by the panel’s decision to include objections to Catholic teaching on culture war issues. …

Barbara Dorris of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, who was abused by a priest as a child, said the report was “long overdue.”

“It is wonderful that the U.N. has spoken so clearly about what the Vatican has done — and what it has failed to do,” said Ms. Dorris, who is based in St. Louis, Mo. “To us, it is a call for the civil authorities to step in. Church officials have proved they cannot police themselves.”

But Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the pope’s permanent observer to the United Nations in Geneva, characterized the United Nations report in a radio interview as “a rather negative approach” to steps the Vatican had already taken, and said the report “in some ways is not up-to-date.” He said a Vatican delegation had told the committee about “concrete measures” that were being taken, including the new papal commission.

Ashley McGuire of The Catholic Association, a lay organization founded to help defend the church in the news media, called the report a “stunning and misguided attack” that “overlooks the fact that the Catholic Church is the leading advocate for women and children and human rights in general around the world,” on issues like sex trafficking and child hunger.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GlobalPost

Agence France-Presse February 5, 2014

The UN denounced the Vatican on Wednesday for failing to stamp out child abuse, and called on the Church to remove all clergy suspected of raping or molesting children.

The following are paedophilia scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church in recent years:

– Canada: The Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s, Newfoundland was closed in 1990 after it emerged that staff had systematically abused 300 residents over several decades.

In 2002, associations representing more than 10,000 self-declared victims joined forces to seek compensation.

– United States: In 2004 a criminal investigation found that 4,400 priests had sexually abused minors between 1950 and 2002, and that the abuse had affected about 11,000 children.

The former archbishop of Boston, Bernard Law, was forced to resign in 2002 for having protected paedophile priests, and former archbishop of Los Angeles Roger Mahony agreed to pay $660 million to 500 presumed victims.

– Ireland: In one of the most staunchly Catholic countries in Europe, a priest admitted to sexually abusing more than 100 children, while another said he had abused minors regularly over 25 years.

A total of 14,500 Irish children are reported to have been victims of abuse by clergy.

– Germany: In early 2010, hundreds of alleged cases of child sex abuse in church institutions emerged, notably at the Jesuit college Canisius in Berlin where about 20 cases were reported.

In late 2012, a report said at least 66 church officials had been accused of sex abuse.

– Belgium: Former bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe resigned in 2010 after acknowledging that he had abused two nephews. Thousands of other potential cases have emerged since then.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

Lizzy Davies in Rome and Henry McDonald
The Guardian, Wednesday 5 February 2014

The leadership of the Roman Catholic church is engaged in a tense standoff with the United Nations after a damning report on the Holy See’s handling of the clerical sex abuse scandal was branded out of date, unfair and ideological by a top Vatican official.

After the appearance last month of a Holy See delegation before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the expert panel published a series of highly critical observations accusing the church of failing to acknowledge the scale of the problem and implementing policies that led to “the continuation of the abuse and the impunity of the perpetrators”.

The committee said it was particularly concerned that, when dealing with allegations of children being abused by priests, “the Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests”.

The panel also found fault with some central church teachings and their impact on children’s health, urging the Vatican to reconsider its stance on abortion and contraception, and encouraging it to tone down criticism of homosexuality in an attempt to reduce “social stigmatisation” and violence against gay youths and children raised by gay couples.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
Women News Network

(WNN) United Nations, Geneva, SWITZERLAND, WESTERN EUROPE: As the UN monitoring Committee on the Rights of the Child issues a pointed, detailed and critical report on Wednesday Febrary 5, the centuries long Vatican policy of impunity to report child predators may be cracking open ‘a tiny bit’ as the UN Committee asks for the impunity to stop for officials who have been given authority by the Holy See.

Reviewing numerous reports and child sexual abuse cases that provide a window into the tortures of secrecy and guilt for children under child abuse within the Roman Catholic Church, the UN child rights committee is bringing the Holy See to task.

Asking that the office of the Pontiff open the files to bring detailed information on child sexual abuse cases forward, the UN Committee also asked for details showing how the Holy See is restricting members of authority within the Church after knowledge of their sexual predatory behavior against children has been discovered.

While some measures to begin to discuss the decades old problem have been put in place more recently by the Church, the issue of child predators who remain hiding inside the Church is a concern for child advocates who are now also trying help adult survivors of sexual abuse.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
Our Windsor

OTTAWA – A Canadian expert on Roman Catholicism says a United Nations committee overstepped its mandate in a scathing report that accused the Vatican of systematically covering up child sexual abuse by priests.

Robert Dennis, vice president of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association, said the UN panel watered down its advocacy of child sexual abuse victims by criticizing the Roman Catholic church for its doctrine on homosexuality, abortion and contraception.

Dennis said that by taking on core Catholic doctrine, the panel detracted from its examination of a serious issue facing the church — the decades-long coverups of sexual abuse by clergy in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Germany and elsewhere.

“We can’t blend these issues together. The report itself probably would have been more effective if it stayed more focused on this crucial question of child abuse,” said Dennis, also a Queen’s University professor in Kingston, Ont.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has just released a report on the way the Vatican has responded to the sexual abuse of minors by priests. The 15-page report contains not a single footnote, endnote, or any other mode of attribution. But it does provide plenty of evidence as to its real agenda.

The U.N. panel is using the sexual abuse of minors as a pretext for its true objective: it wants the Vatican to submit to its authority, and not just in instances involving international law—it wants the Catholic Church to change Canon Law and to adopt a secular sexual ethics. As such, it is one of the most ambitious power-grab efforts ever undertaken by a U.N. committee. The panel is also profoundly ignorant of the data.

On p. 3 of the report, the panel says the Holy See should “undertake the necessary steps to withdraw all its reservations and to ensure the [U.N.] Convention’s precedence over internal laws and regulations.” (Its emphasis.) It is quite explicit: “The Committee recommends that the Holy See undertake a comprehensive review of its normative framework, in particular Canon Law, with a view to ensuring its full compliance with the Convention.”

In other words, the teaching body of the Catholic Church, the Magisterium, i.e., the pope in communion with the bishops, should yield to the U.N. This would be the equivalent of asking the United States Congress to make sure its laws are in compliance with U.N. strictures. Hubris is too mild a word to describe this unmitigated arrogance.

On pp. 12-13, the panel says it wants the Catholic Church to change its teachings on abortion and contraception; it also says the Church needs to do more about HIV/AIDS.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
KPLR

February 5, 2014, by Chris Smith

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (KTVI) – The Missouri Supreme Court Wednesday issued its ruling on whether the ST. Louis Archdiocese should hand over the names of priest accused of sexual abuse. The full panel of justices ruled that the Archdiocese must turn over the names of the priest, ending the battle over releasing the names first ordered by St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Robert Dierker.

The Post-Dispatch, reports that the order is part of a 2011 suit filed on behalf of a then 19-year-old woman, who accused a priest of sexual abuse from 1997-2001.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 05, 2014

ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Supreme Court says the Archdiocese of St. Louis must release the names of church employees accused of sexual abuse over the past 20 years.

The Wednesday ruling upholds a St. Louis judge’s earlier decision. The names will be released only to an unnamed woman suing the diocese and her attorneys, not to the general public.

The archdiocese subsequently released a list of 240 complaints made against 115 priests and other employees since 1986. A court order keeps the names sealed to the public.

The lawsuit was filed in 2011 by a 19-year–old woman who claimed the abuse began when she was 5 years old and attended St. Cronan’s parish.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Archdiocese of St. Louis must turn over names of accused priests, state supreme court rules

By Jennifer S. Mann jmann@post-dispatch.com 314-621-58041

ST. LOUIS • The Archdiocese of St. Louis must release the names of some 100 priests who have been credibly accused here of sexual abuse of minors, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday.

The ruling, issued by a full panel of judges, is likely the end of the legal battle over the disclosures ordered by St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Robert Dierker.

The order is part of a 2011 suit filed on behalf of a then-19-year-old woman, who said she was sexually abused from 1997-2001 by the since-defrocked Rev. Joseph Ross. Her lawyers are trying to show church officials had a pattern of ignoring warning signs and shuffling abusive priests to other parishes, rather than addressing the allegations.

The archdiocese, while fighting further disclosures, released an anonymous matrix of 240 complaints made against 115 church employees. It deemed only 40 of those complaints “unsubstantiated.” Dierker ordered that was not enough and the names must also be turned over to the plaintiff’s lawyers — with the exception of those unsubstantiated cases.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Wednesday February 5

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

For the third time, a court has basically told Archbishop Carlson to turn over records about 115 child molesting St. Louis clerics. We hope he complies. And we hope Carlson’s flock insists that he also reveal how much money he’s spent just on his hard-ball ‘delay and attack’ strategy in this one case.

This brave young woman and her attorney will learn these predators’ names, but the public likely never will. So it’s crucial that those who saw, suspected and suffered these horrific crimes to speak up, instead of waiting for secular judges or Catholic officials to disclose them.

No one knows how many of these 115 child molesting clerics are now coaches, tutors, teachers or still clerics. Even if they’re retired, they’re still uncles, sons and brothers with access to their relatives’ children. Any reasonable person would and should assume they’re still potentially dangerous. And many of them are working or living among us, but Carlson is protecting them – and himself – instead of protecting us and our kids.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Feminist Majority Foundation

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has urged the Vatican act to address child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy members and take measures to prevent it from happening in the future.

The CRC recommended that the Holy See remove all clergy who are confirmed or suspected child abusers from their positions immediately, to turn them in to authorities, and to provide the UN with an archive of evidence about the abuse – which they have so far declined to do. The CRC also urged the Vatican invite outside experts and victims to participate in an investigation of child abuse, the abuse of women in Magdalene laundries, and the way these situations were handled by church authorities. The Vatican must should also pay full compensation to victims and families, among several other recommendations.

“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 Committee said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ILLINOIS
Desplaines Valley News

By Dermot Connolly • Thu, Feb 06, 2014

The Jan. 21 release by the Chicago Archdiocese of 6,000 pages of documents relating to sexual abuse by priests dating back decades, reminded some area residents of the local connections to the scandal that continues to have repercussions.

Members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests maintain that the information does not go far enough, and point out that the documents were released to plaintiffs’ lawyers to comply with a settlement agreement, rather than willingly.

The documents include information about 30 of at least 65 priests for whom the archdiocese has substantiated claims of child abuse.

Those not included belong to religious orders, and church officials said members of religious orders, unlike diocesan priests, are not under the control of Cardinal Francis George.

Few people contacted wanted to comment by name, but words such as “disgusting,” “disgraceful” and “sinful” were used to describe the scandal, which was uncovered on a national and international scale in the 1990s.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

El Commercio (Peru)

La Iglesia Católica romana ha sido acusada durante décadas de abusos sexuales contra menores por parte de su clero. Aquí algunos de los escándalos más destacados de los últimos años:

ESTADOS UNIDOS

En Estados Unidos se desató un gran escándalo en el 2002 después de que el diario “Boston Globe” denunciara el fracaso de la jerarquía clerical en tomar medidas contra un sacerdote acusado de abusar de más de 130 niños durante tres décadas. Ello provocó la renuncia del cardenal Bernard Law como arzobispo de Boston y desató una oleada de nuevas revelaciones.

De acuerdo con grupos de defensa de las víctimas, miles de sacerdotes estadounidenses fueron acusados de abuso sexual. La Iglesia pagó más de 3.000 millones de dólares a las víctimas y al menos ocho diócesis se declararon en bancarrota.

IRLANDA

En la década de 1990, más de 1.000 víctimas dieron testimonio en Irlanda del abuso de sacerdotes en instituciones infantiles financiadas por el Estado. También trascendieron detalles de maltratos de mujeres y niñas en lavanderías católicas manejadas por monjas

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Road to Recovery

Road to Recovery, Inc.
(assisting victims of sexual abuse and their families)
P.O. Box 279
Livingston, NJ 07039
862-368-2800
roberthoatson@gmail.com

MEDIA RELEASE

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

United Nations Committee on Children’s Rights rightly blasts Vatican for negligence
Church abusers must be removed permanently and referred to law enforcement

Road to Recovery, Inc. applauds the United Nations’ Committee on the Rights of Children for issuing a scathing and accurate criticism of the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse cases by its clergy, religious, and lay people. The UN Committee cited the fact that “tens of thousands of children worldwide” had been systematically sexually abused for decades in the Catholic Church.

The United Nations report got to the heart of the matter by pointing out that as an institution, the Catholic Church has not, cannot, and more than likely will not police itself and treat childhood sexual abuse as the crime it is. Additionally, the report cites the Vatican for not treating the issue of sexual abuse of children with urgency and outrage. Instead, the Vatican spent more time protecting its image and defending abusers. Clergyman and other abusers were protected; children were not.

The United Nations report was critical of the Vatican’s arrogance, displayed in a number of ways. The Church failed to submit data on child sexual abuse in a timely fashion, and it usually handled cases secretly, thumbing its nose at any entity outside itself that wished to hold it accountable. Several grand jury reports in the United States concluded similarly; there was a concerted effort to keep sexual abuse quiet.

In our opinion, the United Nations report got it right. In fact, every organization that has investigated the Church’s handling of child sexual abuse has concluded the same thing: the Church deliberately placed itself first and children second. The Church still protects itself, ostracizes whistle blowers, and lacks an action plan to address child sexual abuse appropriately.

Road to Recovery calls for a massive reform of the Catholic Church’s approach to child sexual abuse. All sexually abusive clergymen, religious, and lay people must never serve in the Church again, all Church leaders who have covered up sexual abuse of children must be fired, and those who are criminally charged and convicted must serve jail time.

Finally, Road to Recovery calls on United States Attorney General Eric Holder to commence a federal investigation of the United States Catholic Church and its handling of child sexual abuse. The results of such an investigation should lead to indictments, trials, and sentences, if appropriate.

Contact: Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc., Livingston, NJ, 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA, 617-523-6250

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

Inadvertently, by their comments over the past few hours, Vatican officials are essentially proving what a UN panel has concluded: that the Catholic hierarchy is not reforming its handling of clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

For decades, when abuse and cover up reports surface, many church officials “shoot the messenger” and divert attention. Vatican staffers are doing that now.

One of them, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, attacks the motives of 21 independent children’s experts who volunteer to serve on a respected United Nations panel, calling them “ideological” and implying they are deceitful (The report, he claims, “appears to have been written before (Vatican) representatives even had a chance to tell their side of the story. . . ”

[Gazzetta del Sud]

He also says that “the report in some ways is not up to date” even though the panel met with Vatican officials just last month (and spent hours quizzing both abuse victims and Vatican staffers).

[Vatican Radio]

(If an archbishop blasts an objective panel of volunteers who work for children in public like this, imagine how bishops treat victims in private.)

Another “Vatican insider,” who is nameless, tells an Irish journalist that the UN report was full of “spite” and attempt to “bash the Church,” while of course providing not a scintilla of evidence to support such a claim.

[Telegraph]

This kind of attack is part and parcel of the long-standing, deeply-rooted Catholic clerical culture and practice of assaulting those who report abuse and cover up or question the hierarchy’s handling of abuse and cover up.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Bishop Tomasi said it seems as though the report was prepared before the Holy See’s discussions with the Committee on the Rights of the Child, adding that the Committee may have been influenced by pro-homosexuality NGOs

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

“The initial reaction was one of surprise.” It seems as though the report was prepared before the meeting with the Holy See delegation which gave detailed answers on a number of points.” The Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva, Bishop Silvano Tomasi did not hide his dismay at the concluding report published today by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The report claims that the Holy See is continuing to violate the rights of children.

Vatican Radio interviewed Tomasi.

“There is a need to read and analyze the recommendations proposed by the committee calmly and in detail, “Tomasi said. “But our initial reaction is one of surprise because the negative tone of the document produced makes it seem as though it was prepared before the Committee’s meeting with the Holy See delegation, during which clear responses were given on a number of aspects. There was no mention of these in the concluding document or at least they don’t appear to have been taken into consideration.”

The Vatican diplomat went on to say that “it seems as though” the document “has not been updated according to what the Holy See has done in the past years, with measures introduced directly by the Vatican City State and then by the Episcopal Conferences of the various different nations.” The document therefore “does not offer a correct or up-to-date picture of the situation, as a number of changes have been made to ensure the protection of children; it seems to me that changes of this kind are difficult to find in other institutions and State. These are simply the facts, it is evidence which cannot be distorted.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
Shanghai Daily

Feb 06,2014

ROME, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) — A United Nations committee on Wednesday slammed the Vatican for adopting policies that allegedly allowed priests to abuse children with impunity, and asked all priests known or suspected to be abusers to be removed immediately.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) said in a 16-page report that it was deeply concerned “about child sexual abuse committed by member of the Catholic churches operating under the authority of the Vatican, with clerics having been involved in the sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children worldwide.”

Several scandals over child sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church broke in Europe, Canada, and the United States, mainly since 2002.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
NPR

by SYLVIA POGGIOLI
February 05, 2014

The United Nations watchdog for children’s rights has accused the Vatican of caring more about its own reputation and members of the clergy than the victims of sexual abuse. The group is calling for the Vatican to immediately remove any priests suspected of sexually abusing children.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

“It’s looking more and more like the Jane Doe vs. Fr. Joseph D. Ross and the St. Louis archdiocese trial, set for later this month, will end up being postponed. Both sides are still waiting for the Missouri Supreme Court to rule on whether Archbishop Robert Carlson will hafe to turn over to Ken Chackes, the alleged victim’s attorney, the names of 115 archdiocesan employees who have been accused of molesting children.

“We’ll be sad if this brave young woman’s long struggle for justice is postponed again because Catholic officials exploit every possible delay and protecting their reputations instead of fighting fair and letting this case go to trial,” said SNAP’s David Clohessy.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Independent Catholic News (UK)

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva has given his reaction to the ‘harsh’ report from the committee of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In an interview with Vatican Radio today, he said the report has “a rather negative approach to what the Holy See has been doing and has already achieved in the area of the protection of children.”

“The first impression is that the report in some ways is not up to date, not taking into account some of the clear and precise explanations that were given to the committee in the in the encounter that the delegation of the Holy See had with the committee three or four weeks ago.

“Second, I would say that there is a difficultly apparent in understanding the position of the Holy See that cannot certainly give up certain teachings that are part of their deep convictions and also an expression of freedom of religion and these are the values that in the tradition of the Catholic Church sustain the common good of society and therefore cannot be renounced, for example the committee asked for acceptance of abortion and this is a contradiction with the principle of life that the convention itself should support recommending that children be protected before and after birth.

“If a child is eliminated or killed we can no longer talk about rights for this person, so there is a need to calmly and in detail analyzing the recommendations proposed by the committee and provide an accurate response to the committee itself, so that there will be no misunderstanding on where we stand and the reason why we take certain positions.

“I would add that the practical remedies for preventing cases of abuse of children in forms of laws or decisions of Episcopal Conferences of directives for the formation of seminarians constitute a package of measures that is very difficult, I think, to find other institutions or even other states that have done so much specifically for the protection of children.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A woman from Warwickshire who was abused by a Catholic priest has welcomed an order from the UN today, that the Vatican should remove priests suspected of abuse from parishes, and hand them over to police.

Sue Cox, from Gaydon, gave evidence at the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child which has been investigating abuse by Catholic priests.

Today the committee ordered the Vatican to hand over archives concerning abuse by priests. The Vatican said it was committed to protecting children

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

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.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
The Age (Australia)

The Vatican hits back at UN report on child sex abuse while a victim welcomes new recommendations

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Voices

Posted on February 5, 2014

The UN watchdog on children’s rights which recently hauled the Vatican over the coals for its handling of sex abuse has today released its recommendations. The report is not only ignorant and misguided, peddling myths for which there is no foundation, but betrays an extraordinary misunderstanding of the nature of the Church and the Holy See, while seeking to impose an ideology of gender and sexuality in violation of the UN’s own commitment to religious freedom.

Although the Holy See has responded diplomatically to the report (see below), promising to look at the recommendations, the Secretariat of State cannot possibly accept them without doing violation to the nature of the Church. By adopting the mythical framework peddled by victims’ advocacy groups and lawyers, and ignoring the evidence put to it by the Holy See on 16 January (see CV Comment here, and Archbishop Tomasi’s speech here), the Committee has shown itself to be a kangaroo court. The Holy See can only now consider withdrawing its signature to the Convention. The Committee has very seriously undermined both its own credibility and that of the UN as a whole.

The 16-page UN report is so full of crass errors and myths that it is impossible to tackle them all. But the principal faults can be gathered under the three headings of 1) ignorance about the Church’s record on abuse 2) misunderstanding about the Church 3) attempt to impose an ideology of sexuality and gender.

1) Ignorance of the Church’s record of abuse

Nowhere is the Report is there an acknowledgement that the Catholic Church in the western world has led safeguarding, creating guidelines and best practices which are routinely recommended by governments to other institutions to emulate. Nor does it acknowledge that the Holy See at least since 2001 has been the catalyst of those best practices, cajoling bishops’ conferences across the world to put in place measures of the sort pioneered in the US and the UK. Instead, the Report peddles the myth (29) that “the Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests”. If there is substance to that claim pre-2000, the opposite is now the case, and nowhere is this acknowledged. This, no doubt, was designed to produce headlines like the BBC’s — ‘UN slams Vatican for protecting priests over child abuse’ — in order to sustain the myth of the Church, and the Vatican in particular, as an unreformed institution, when all the evidence points the other way.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Feb 5, 2014

Last month, the Vatican presented a report on its efforts to deal with the abuse of minors in the church to the U.N.’s Committee on the Rights of the Child. There are so many problems with today’s response from the Committee that it must be considered a lost opportunity to encourage the Holy See to do the right thing.

These problems, ranging from the factual to the philosophical, have been specified in no uncertain terms by the distinguished English Catholic journalist Austen Ivereigh. Not least among them is a profound confusion over the nature of the Catholic Church as an institution in the world. Consider the following statement:

While being fully conscious that bishops and major superiors of religious institutes do not act as representatives or delegates of the Roman Pontiff, the Committee nevertheless notes that subordinates in Catholic religious orders are bound by obedience to the Pope in accordance with Canons 331 and 590. The Committee therefore reminds the Holy See that by ratifying the Convention, it has committed itself to implementing the Convention not only on the territory of the Vatican City State but also as the supreme power of the Catholic Church through individuals and institutions placed under its authority.

The report thus proceeds to treat the Holy See as a state actor (the Vatican City State) wherever the church happens to be, holding it responsible for child protection in the way it would treat any country that is a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. That extends to making changes in canon law that go so far as to allow abortions for girls who become pregnant as the result of abuse.

Yet at the same time, the report recognizes that those subordinate to the Holy See operate under the legal system of other states. Indeed, the Holy See is called upon to ”[e]stablish clear rules, mechanisms and procedures for the mandatory reporting of all suspected cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation to law enforcement authorities.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Feb. 5, 2014

A United Nations watchdog group for children’s rights chastised the Vatican Wednesday for a series of substandard policies that fall short in protecting children, specifically from sexual abuse.

The condemnation came from the U.N. Committee on Convention of the Rights of the Child, which is made up of 18 independent experts that monitor the implementation of the 1989 U.N. treaty — ratified by the Vatican in 1990 — related to child protection and children’s rights.

While it welcomed the Vatican’s recent “open and constructive dialogue” and the Vatican’s willingness “to change attitudes and practices” related to child protection, the committee noted that the Vatican’s response to the U.N. body came “with a considerable delay” of 14 years. The U.N. committee said that most of its recommendations following its initial 1995 review had not fully addressed.

Though the latest U.N. report addresses a range of issues, such as the Vatican’s use of discriminatory terms like “illegitimate children,” or its handling of children born of priests, the U.N. child’s rights committee held its “deepest concern” for the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy, estimating that clergy have “been involved in the sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children worldwide.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

DEUTSCHLAND
Deutsche Welle

[Summary: Christian Pfeiffer, director of the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony, once headed a research project on behalf of the Catholic Church to examine cases of abuse by priests. He called for more transparency in handling the files and then his contract for the research was ended by the church in early 2013. Pfeiffer said the United Nations is correct in its criticism of the church. In the 1950s through 1970s priests were allowed to continue to work and were not punished.]

Christian Pfeiffer ist Direktor des Kriminologischen Forschungsinstituts Niedersachsen. Er war im Auftrag der Katholischen Kirche Leiter eines Forschungsprojektes, das die Missbrauchsfälle durch Priester untersuchen sollte. Nachdem er mehr Transparenz in der Aktenbearbeitung gefordert hatte, löste die Katholische Kirche den Vertrag Anfang 2013 auf.

DW: Herr Pfeiffer, die Vereinten Nationen haben den Vatikan wegen Tausender Fälle von sexuellem Kindesmissbrauch aufgefordert, sich von überführten oder verdächtigen Priestern zu trennen. Was halten Sie von dieser Initiative der UN und wie realistisch ist es, dass sie Erfolg hat?

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

DEUTSCHLAND
Deutsche Welle

[Summary: Christian Weisner of We are Church said the church has had a huge problem for decades. Compensation payments, especially in the United States, are in the millions. The church has lost credibility, he said.]

DW: Herr Weisner, ist der Bericht des UN-Kinderrechtsausschusses eine Ohrfeige für die Katholische Kirche?

Christian Weisner: Ich glaube, es ist wichtig, daß die Katholische Kirche sich als Weltorganisation auch den kritischen Augen der Vereinten Nationen und seinem Kinderrechtsausschuss stellt. Die Katholische Kirche hat seit Jahrzehnten ein riesiges Problem. Sie hat mit Entschädigungszahlungen vor allem in den USA schon Millionen verloren. Und vor allem hat sie ihre Glaubwürdigkeit verloren. Man muß aber auch anerkennen, daß es jetzt spät – hoffentlich noch nicht zu spät – auch in der Katholischen Kirche Bemühungen gibt, sich dieser schwierigen Frage zu stellen: Warum kommt sexuelle Gewalt auch in der Katholischen Kirche vor, wo die Kleriker doch einen hohen Anspruch haben und verkünden? Und warum ist dies Jahrzehnte lang vertuscht worden? Und das muss ein Anstoß sein, dass die Katholische Kirche sich jetzt weltweit dieses Problems endgültig und positiv und konstruktiv annimmt.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

MEDIA RELEASE
(For immediate release)
6th February, 2014

On the 31st of January, long-time social justice and child protection activist, Lewis Blayse (born Lewin Blazevich), passed away.

It was on the anniversary of his marriage to Sylvia Blayse (nee Tunley), herself a long-time social justice activist. It was also just after he had conducted an interview with the ABC’s 7:30 Report about the current Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the re-airing of the 2003 ABC Four Corners story “The Homies”, which featured Lewis’ story.

Before he died, he had been writing a daily blog about the Royal Commission and associated matters at www.lewisblayse.net.

A public Memorial Event celebrating Lewis’ extraordinary life will be held at the Alumni Court at the University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus (Queensland, Australia) on Saturday, the 1st of March (1-4pm), which anyone who knew Lewis or supported his work are invited to attend.

While the main focus will be upon Lewis’ life, there will also be a theme of child protection, and what key activists in the field hope to see come out of the Royal Commission.

Lewis’ wife, Sylvia, is also currently negotiating with the university for Lewis to be awarded his PhD posthumously, as a mark of respect for his work both as a scientist and as a campaigner for the rights of children to grow up in a safe and loving environment.

It is hoped that an announcement in this regard will be made at this event. As Lewin Blazevich, he had completed an Honours degree in Biochemistry and had spent two years working towards his PhD, for which he had completed the research, and had been accepted as a full candidate by the Professorial Board.

Details regarding speakers are still being worked out, but Lewis’ eldest daughter, Aletha Blayse, will be officiating the event and making opening remarks. Interested parties wishing to say a few words at the event are invited to contact Lewis’ daughter, Aletha on the details below.

Media enquiries: aletha.blayse@gmail.com or 0457151278 (text messages only, please).
University of Queensland contact: Lily White, Security Administration Officer – Events, Property & Facilities Division | The University of Queensland | QLD 4072 | Australia, t. 07 3365 6003 | f. 07 3365 1600 | m. 0408 570 796 | e. sao@pf.uq.edu.au | w., www.pf.uq.edu.au

Aletha Blayse

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

Vatican thumbs its nose at UN report blasting them for covering up sex crimes.

At face value, it really doesn’t seem like such a tough request. On Wednesday, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child delivered their hard-hitting final report with blunt recommendations after last month’s panel on child sex abuse with Vatican officials in Geneva. In the report, they lambasted the Vatican’s “code of secrecy” in covering up years of clerical sex abuse involving children and demanded the “immediate removal” of any and all clergy currently working in dioceses that have been accused of child abuse or child pornography. A very defensive Vatican statement said that the UN’s recommendations would be “submitted to a thorough study and examination.” Silvano Maria Tomasi, the Vatican’s observer at the UN in Geneva, later implied that the child rights group was crossing the line. “Trying to ask the Holy See to change its teachings is not negotiable,” he told Vatican Radio.

The United Nations has been trying to reign in the Vatican on the issue of the child sex abuse scandal for nearly a decade. In the first line of the report, they thanked the Vatican for submitting questions clarifying its second periodic report to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the Vatican is a signatory. But they added, “The Committee however regrets that the report was submitted with a six-year delay and that the Holy See did not respond to questions relating to the implementation of the Optional Protocol by persons and institutions placed under its legal authority.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SPAIN
UPI

MADRID, Feb. 5 (UPI) — Improvement in the Catholic Church’s handling of child sex abuse cases is forthcoming, a Vatican spokesman said Wednesday after a U.N. condemnation.

Speaking in Madrid at a national bishops’ conference, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said a plan to improve the Church’s transparency in dealing with sex abuse cases will be released soon.

His comments came after the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child denounced Vatican behavior in allegedly shielding clergy in decades of sexual abuse incidents. The committee urged the Vatican Wednesday to hand over its archives on sexual abuse to the United Nations so suspected abusers and “those who concealed their crimes” can face justice.

Lombardi said the Church’s plan would be revealed “in the coming days or weeks,” the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Feb 5, 2014 / 11:14 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In wake of the U.N. Child Protection Committee criticizing Vatican policies and calling for the Church to change its doctrine, a leading archbishop countered that the committee’s analysis fails to be objective.

“The concluding recommendations…point out a rather negative approach to what the Holy See has been doing and has already achieved in the area of the protection of children,” Archbishop Silvano Tomasi told Vatican Radio on Feb. 5.

Archbishop Tomasi, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, made his comments in response to Wednesday’s U.N.-authored Rights of Children report claiming that the Vatican “systematically” adopted policies allowing priests to rape and molest children. The document was issued following a Jan. 16 committee hearing in Geneva on global children’s rights.

Charging the Church to open its files on previous cases of abuse and criticizing their stance on homosexuality, contraception and abortion, the report suggested the Church change its canon law to ensure that what it called children’s rights, including access to health care, are guaranteed.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
BBC News

The UN has called on the Vatican to “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers.

It denounced the Holy See for adopting policies which allowed priests to sexually abuse thousands of children, and criticised its attitudes towards homosexuality, contraception and abortion.

The Vatican responded by saying it would examine the report – but also accused its authors of interference.

BBC News looks into the background of the crisis – in 60 seconds.

Video produced by Michael Hirst

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
The Economist – Erasmus

People all over the world who abhor the unspeakable horror of child abuse will generally be pleased to read that a United Nations committee has excoriated the Vatican for the crimes of the past and the continuing failure of the Holy See to tackle those crimes or prevent their recurrence. The UN committee charged with implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child has published a report saying it 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 abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies which have led to the continuation of the abuse by, and the impunity of, the perpetrators…”

The report rejected attempts by the Vatican to limit its responsibility for the behaviour of Catholic agencies round the world; the Holy See must be held to account for misdeeds in all countries, given its role in exercising “the supreme power of the Catholic church through individuals and institutions placed under its authority,” it said. The committee also implies that the church is continuing to hide behind its own legislative system—canon law—to condone abuse. It singles out the church’s failure to investigate and punish the abuses suffered by Irish girls in the Magdalene laundries, a form of workhouse that was run by Catholic sisters until 1996.

The report also raises a ragbag of other issues, effectively urging the church to make sweeping changes to its own doctrine. It says canon law should be amended “with a view to identifying circumstances under which access to abortion services can be permitted” for girls, and it notes with concern the Holy See’s “past statements and declarations on homosexuality which contribute to social stigmatisation of and violence against LGBT adolescents and children raised by same sex couples.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Reuters

BY PADRAIC HALPIN
DUBLIN Wed Feb 5, 2014

(Reuters) – Advocacy groups for women forced to work at the Catholic Church’s notorious Magdalene laundries in Ireland backed calls from the United Nations for religious orders to pay compensation and face prosecution for decades of abuse.

In an unprecedented report on Wednesday, the U.N. demanded that the Vatican “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers. It also urged the Holy See to conduct an investigation into the laundries.

Women, many unmarried mothers, sent to the laundries were made wash items for business, hospitals and state bodies in slave-like conditions, and were often subject to cruel and degrading treatment as well as physical and sexual abuse, the report by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said.

“The state has allowed the perpetrators of these crimes to get away without taking responsibility,” said Steven O’ Riordan, director of Magdalene Survivors Together. “The religious orders are still not being held accountable, they have never apologized directly for their part in running the laundries.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

INDIA
Business Standard

Press Trust of India | Dehradun February 5, 2014

Badri-Kedar Temple Committee today sought from Delhi police details of the alleged molestation case in which the chief priest (Rawal) of Badrinath temple Keshavan Namboodiri has been arrested.

“We have sought details related to the case from the Delhi police to help probe the matter by a panel constituted by the Badri-Kedar Mandir Samiti,” its chief Ganesh Godiyal said.

The committee has already suspended the chief priest of the Himalayan shrine after he was arrested by Delhi police on alleged molestation charges.

The report of the panel constituted by the committee will be placed before the Committee board, he said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release – Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Statement by Kate Bochte, SNAP member ( 630 768 1860, keight@sbcglobal.ne t)

It took almost nine years – and dozens of lawsuits – to get records on 30 archdiocesan predator priests released by the Chicago archdiocese.

That’s fewer than half of the 65 predator priests George admits to, and less than one fourth of the 121 predator priests listed by an independent group called BishopAccountability.org.

So at this rate, we’ll get another 35 predator priests’ records in around 2025, assuming that dozens more victims file dozens more lawsuits and insist on more disclosure.

And we’ll never see the records of the other 56 predator priests who worked and abused in the Chicago archdiocese but who George refuses to take any responsibility for (because another Catholic entity, a religious order, signs their paychecks).

According to the Tribune, “The archdiocese said it is developing a method to release the rest of the files.” What “method” is needed?

It’s not rocket science. Someone has to read the files and redact the names of victims, then release them. That’s it. Each file might take a day or two, but not more. (Recall that last month, victims’ attorneys got 6,000 pages of records. A week later, they were able to make those records available to the public.)

Keep in mind too that Catholic employees are members of a feudal system. They aren’t union employees. They can’t sue Cardinal George if they feel he’s been unfair to them. (We know of only a handful of cases in which predator priests have sued their bishops. We know of no cases in which those predator priests have succeeded.)

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Irishwoman Philomena Lee and actor Steve Coogan have met the Pope as they brought a campaign for the release of secret adoption files to the Vatican.

Mrs Lee’s 50-year search for the son she was forced to give up for adoption in her homeland inspired the actor’s latest Oscar-nominated film, Philomena.

She is now leading a campaign to help reunite families who were separated through forced adoption in Ireland.

Coogan, who wrote, produced and starred in the film, is supporting her project.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

The Vatican may have come in for an unprecedented roasting by the UN committee in Geneva, but don’t hold your breath for concrete action to be taken any time soon, writes Nick Squires

By Nick Squires, Rome 05 Feb 2014

That is not only because the Holy See moves with glacial slowness but because Vatican officials continue to believe that they have already taken adequate measures to address the scourge of child sex abuse by clergy.

They point out that Pope Francis announced in December that he would form a special commission to address the issue, although victims’ groups quickly described the initiative as “meaningless” and “like offering a Band Aid to a cancer patient.”

Vatican officials also insist that the Catholic Church has been unfairly singled out for criticism on the issue.

“Things have changed drastically and most dioceses now have new rules” for dealing with priests suspected of molesting children, a Vatican insider said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GINEBRA
BBC

Naciones Unidas acusó al Vaticano de adoptar políticas que permitían a sacerdotes violar y acosar sexualmente a decenas de miles de niños.

En un informe sin precedentes y escrito con lenguaje cáustico, el Comité de Derechos del Niño de la ONU exigió que el Vaticano destituya de inmediato a todos los miembros del clero que son reconocidos o sospechosos de ser abusadores de menores.

El Comité de los Derechos de Menores de la ONU dice estar profundamente consternado de que la Santa Sede no ha reconocido la extensión de los crímenes cometidos y exhortó a la Iglesia Católica a abrir sus archivos.

Añade que la Iglesia debería reportar todos los casos a las autoridades civiles.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GINEBRA/CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
El Mundo (Espana)

* Dice que la Santa Sede ‘ha adoptado políticas’ que han permitido que siguieran los abusos
* Denuncia que no se han adoptado ‘las medidas necesarias’ para proteger a los menores
* Sentencia que la Santa Sede incumple los derechos fundamentales del menor

IRENE HDEZ. VELASCO
Corresponsal
Roma

La Santa Sede debe “inmediatamente” retirar del sacerdocio a todos aquellos curas que han cometido abusos sexuales contra menores o que se sospecha que puedan haberlos cometido y denunciarlos ante las autoridades civiles, porque hasta ahora “ha adoptado políticas y prácticas” que han hecho que continuasen esos abusos contra decenas de miles de niños. Eso es lo que sentencia el durísimo informe que hoy el Comité de la ONU sobre los Derechos del Niño ha dado a conocer respecto a los casos de pederastia que en los últimos años ha sacudido a la Iglesia católica.

El organismo de la Naciones Unidas encargado de velar por la infancia es taxativo: El Vaticano debería entregar toda la información que tiene sobre sacerdotes pederastas a las autoridades civiles, para que de ese modo los responsables de haber abusado sexualmente de menores así como “quienes han encubierto sus crímenes” puedan ser juzgados. “La Comisión está profundamente preocupada por el hecho de que la Santa Sede no haya reconocido la importancia de los crímenes cometidos, no haya adoptado medidas necesarias para gestionar los casos de abusos sexuales contra menores y proteger a los niños y haya adoptado políticas y prácticas que han llevado a la continuación de los abusos y a la impunidad de los culpables”, se afirma en el documento, que concluye asegurando que la Santa Sede incumple los derechos fundamentales del menor.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
The Times (UK)

James Bone in Rome and Ruth Gledhill

A UN panel on child abuse condemned the Vatican today for humiliating victims to protect the church and predator priests.

The UN committee on the rights of the child called on the Catholic church to remove all suspect clergy from their posts immediately and refer their cases to police.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
WBUR – Here and Now

A new United Nations report is bluntly critical of the Vatican, saying it has adopted polices that allowed priest to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades.

The widely anticipated report from the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child goes on to say that the Vatican is guilty of a “code of silence” that has “systematically” put the reputation of the church and offending priests over the protection of child victims.

The Vatican says the report goes too far when it also includes criticism of the church’s teaching on conception and birth control, human sexuality and abortion.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CHICAGO (IL)
Final Call

BY ASHAHED M. MUHAMMAD -ASSISTANT EDITOR- | LAST UPDATED: FEB 5, 2014

CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) – Files released by the Chicago Catholic Archdiocese show decades of systematic secrecy and protection of pedophile priests, however, for some victims of abuse, the nightmare continues and justice remains elusive.

David Nolan is 46-years-old. His harrowing tales of abuse began at 13 years of age as Father Victor Stewart, now deceased, used his authority and power to have sex with dozens of young boys at will, and seemingly without any fear of being punished.

The Nolan tragedy provides almost a case study into how pedophile priests victimized the Black community.

In files released as part of a settlement in a sexual abuse case, the Chicago Catholic Archdiocese was clearly aware of many allegations of sexual abuse involving Fr. Stewart. Documents show victims reported Fr. Stewart and other priests were “part of a club that participated in pedophilia.”

Mr. Nolan said the church shuffled priests from parish to parish to protect its image, not children and families in the church. Church leaders knew all along abuse charges were true, he said. “I’ve continued to be abused over the years not only by the Chicago Archdiocese, but by our legal system. It destroyed my marriage because I didn’t have no recourse, I didn’t know how to deal with it, it destroyed my relationships with family, so now to hear that these documents are being released I’m saddened.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By Tom Kington
February 5, 2014

ROME — The Roman Catholic Church has “systematically” protected predator priests, allowing “tens of thousands” of children to be abused, a United Nations committee said Wednesday in a scathing report that cast the first shadow over Pope Francis’ honeymoon period as pontiff.

The panel called on the Vatican to remove all suspects from their posts immediately and to open up its confidential archives in order “to hold abusers accountable.”

“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.

DOCUMENT: UN rights committee report on Vatican’s policies toward sex abuse

The Vatican, which signed the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, has “consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests,” said the report, accusing the Vatican of transferring abusive priests to new parishes where many have continued to abuse children, and of “humiliating” the families of victims into silence.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Boston Globe

By John L. Allen Jr. | GLOBE STAFF FEBRUARY 05, 2014

Because the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has no police power, it relies on moral pressure to get states to adopt its child protection recommendations. That’s obviously what it hoped to accomplish with a Feb. 5 report on the Vatican and the child abuse scandals that have rocked Catholicism over the last decade, issuing a stinging indictment of what it called a culture of “impunity” for perpetrators.

There’s a strong possibility the fusillade from the UN panel may backfire, however, by blurring the cause of child protection with the culture wars over sexual mores.

In several sections of its report, the committee joins its critique on abuse with blunt advice to Rome to jettison Church teaching on matters such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and contraception. At one stage the panel even recommends repealing a codicil of Church law that imposes automatic excommunication for participating in an abortion.

Not only are those bits of advice deeply unlikely to be adopted, they may actually strengthen the hand of those still in denial in the Church on the abuse scandals by allowing them to style the UN report as all-too-familiar secular criticism driven by politics.

That could overshadow the fact that there are, in truth, many child protection recommendations in the report that the Church’s own reform wing has long championed.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Bill Tammeus | Feb. 5, 2014 A small c catholic

Hans Küng has long been an important prophetic voice, primarily within Catholicism but more broadly within Christianity.

He continues in that role in his latest book, Can We Save the Catholic Church?, just now published in the U.S. In it, he offers the sorrowful but hopeful pleadings of a priest and theologian who has sought for decades to reform the church in the liberating spirit of the Second Vatican Council.

Küng’s battles with the church’s hierarchy are well known, and much of that gets retold in this book. But what especially struck me about this volume is that Küng’s familiar arguments to salvage Vatican II reforms are overshadowed by a different, more important call to the whole of Christianity, not just to Catholicism.

Here’s how Küng puts it: “The crucial question is always the same: Does one’s church faithfully incorporate and reflect the original Christian message, the Gospel, which to all intents and purposes is Jesus Christ himself, to whom each church appeals as its ultimate authority?” And again: “Without a concrete and consequent return to the historical Jesus Christ, to his message, his behavior and his fate … a Christian church — whatever its name — will have neither true Christian identity nor relevance for modern human beings and society.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Yet again, as they’ve done for decades, today embattled Catholic officials make more promises about children – specifically, to “study” a new UN panel’s report. But their words contradict reality. They’ve made similar promises for years. Almost always, they refuse to keep these promises.

Just like they did last month in Geneva and have done for decades, Vatican officials again ignore the church’s continuing and well-documented cover ups of horrific child sex crimes worldwide. Again they try to deflect attention from their extraordinarily devastating actions and talk of “church teaching” instead of bishops’ behavior.

The UN panel says the Vatican should remove predator priests from ministry and report them to law enforcement That needs study? The panel says the Vatican should endorse, not oppose, reforming secular child safety laws. That needs study?

Bishops don’t move predators, shun victims, rebuff prosecutors, shred evidence, intimidate witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, dodge responsibility, fabricate alibis, and blame others for clergy sex crimes and cover ups because of inadequate “study.” It’s always been, and remains, a lack of courage by bishops, not a lack of information, that prevents them from acting responsibly about and working hard to prevent clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

The Associated Press points out today that “No Catholic bishop has ever been sanctioned by the Vatican for sheltering an abusive priest.” So why would bishops risk their precious clerical careers by doing anything different with child molesting clerics (priests, nuns, seminarians, brothers and bishops) than any of their peers have ever done?

The vast bulk of the United Nations panel’s findings have nothing to do with birth control, homosexuality, abortion or doctrine. But the church hierarchy ignores this because deep down, they know they cannot defend the indefensible – their consistent, deliberate, and selfish decisions that safeguard their own reputations and hurt their own flocks.

It’s disingenuous for Catholic officials to trot out the “religious freedom” canard when confronted with uncontroverted evidence of massive wrongdoing.

The Vatican’s unrepentant 150 word response – which does not contain the words “abuse,” “crimes,” or “cover ups,” – is here:

[news.va]

Catholics deserve – and kids need – a better response than this.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENF/VATIKANSTADT
Spiegel

Genf/Rom – Auf die scharfe Kritik der Uno reagiert der Heilige Stuhl mit ebenso deutlichen Worten: Der Vatikan wirft dem Uno-Komitee für die Rechte des Kindes in einer Stellungnahme einen “versuchten Eingriff” in seine Lehre vor. Das betreffe einige Punkte, in denen es um die Lehre der katholischen Kirche zur Würde des Menschen und zur Ausübung der Religionsfreiheit gehe, teilte der Vatikan mit.

In einem in Genf vorgestellten Gutachten hatte der Uno-Ausschuss den Heiligen Stuhl unter anderem dazu aufgefordert, seine Einstellungen zu Homosexualität, Empfängnisverhütung und Abtreibung zu überdenken.

Außerdem rügte das Gremium den Vatikan erneut, es werde in der katholischen Kirche nicht mit aller Kraft gegen den Missbrauch von Kindern durch Geistliche vorgegangen. Der Ruf der katholischen Kirche sei systematisch über das Wohl von betroffenen Kindern gestellt worden. Dies verletze die Kinderrechtskonvention der Vereinten Nationen, sagte die Ausschussvorsitzende Kirsten Sandberg.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENF
Sueddeutsche

Deutliche Worte aus Genf: Der UN-Kinderrechtsausschuss fordert den Vatikan auf, Priester aus ihren Ämtern zu entfernen, sobald diese des Kindesmissbrauchs überführt sind. Noch immer stelle die katholische Kirche ihren Ruf über das Wohl der Kinder. Der Vatikan bedauert das Ergebnis, kritisiert jedoch die Einmischung.

Der UN-Ausschuss für die Rechte der Kinder hat dem Vatikan die Verletzung der Kinderrechtskonvention der Vereinten Nationen vorgeworfen. “Sie verletzen die Konvention”, sagte die Ausschussvorsitzende Kirsten Sandberg in Genf. Zur Begründung sagte sie, der Vatikan habe nicht genug getan, um Kindesmissbrauch in der katholischen Kirche zu unterbinden.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATIKANSTADT
Tiroler Tageszeitung (Osterreich)

Vatikanstadt/New York – Der UN-Ausschusses für die Rechte des Kindes in Genf hat den Vatikan wegen seines Umgangs mit pädophilen Priestern heftig kritisiert. In einem am Mittwoch veröffentlichten Bericht rief der Ausschuss den Vatikan auf, alle wegen Kindesmissbrauchs bekannten und verdächtigten Geistlichen ihrer Ämter zu entheben und der Justiz zu übergeben.

In dem Bericht heißt es, die katholische Kirche unternehme trotz entsprechender Zusagen nach wie vor nicht genug gegen den sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern durch Geistliche und Kirchenmitarbeiter, unter anderem in Schulen. Der Ausschuss erklärte sich zutiefst besorgt, dass der Heilige Stuhl das „Ausmaß der begangenen Verbrechen nicht anerkannt“ und die erforderlichen Maßnahmen nicht ergriffen habe, um die Kinder zu schützen. Stattdessen habe der Vatikan eine Politik und Praktiken verfolgt, die dazu führten, dass die Missbrauchsfälle andauerten und die Täter straflos ausgingen.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Sound Cloud

Barbara Blaine, head of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), reacts to the UN’s scathing report on the Vatican’s child abuse record

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
London South East

Geneva (Alliance News) – The Holy See’s handling of sex abuse cases has allowed perpetrators in the church to continue their crimes, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child charged Wednesday.

“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,” the UN panel of experts said.

It pointed to the practice of transferring alleged perpetrators to other parishes and a lack of cooperation with national legal authorities.

The Geneva-based committee criticized the Vatican for a lack of transparency in dealing with abuse cases and said in a list of recommendations it made to the Vatican that the findings of the Holy See’s commission on sex crimes, which was set up in December, should be made public.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
ABC News (US)

February 5, 2014 (AP)
By The Associated Press

The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child published a report Wednesday on the Holy See’s compliance with a 1989 U.N. accord on child rights. The report focused heavily on the worldwide allegations of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and the Vatican’s handling of the cases.

Here are some of the 67 recommendations made by the 18-member panel, which is based in Geneva and made up of independent child rights experts from around the world.

———

AMEND CHURCH LAW

The Vatican should bring its Canon Law in line with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Holy See ratified in 1990, “in particular those (laws) relating to children’s rights to be protected against discrimination, violence and all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.” This includes any obligation for victims of crimes or those aware of them to remain silent.

———

PUT CHILDREN BEFORE THE CHURCH

The panel said that “in dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse, the Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests.” It said church officials had in many cases blamed the victims or their families, sought to discredit and in some cases humiliated them.

———

END IMPUNITY

Despite the Vatican’s commitment to “hold inviolable the dignity and entire person of every child,” the panel expressed its “deepest concern about child sexual abuse committed by members of the Catholic churches who operate under the authority of the Holy See, with clerics having been involved in the sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children worldwide.” It added: “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.”

———

STOP IMPEDING INVESTIGATIONS

The panel urged the Vatican to stop the transfer of abusers and suspected abusers, a practice it said had been documented on numerous occasions and which amounted to covering up the crimes. A Vatican commission created last year should investigate “all cases of child sexual abuse as well as the conduct of the Catholic hierarchy in dealing with them.” In doing so, it should consider bringing in independent human rights groups, publish the outcome of the investigations and allow its archives to be accessed by law enforcement authorities investigating alleged perpetrators and those who may have covered for them.

———

REMOVE PERPETRATORS

It called on the Vatican to “immediately remove all known and suspected child sexual abusers from assignment and refer the matter to the relevant law enforcement authorities for investigation and prosecution purposes.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
Catholic Register

Written by Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News
Wednesday, 05 February 2014 09:33

OTTAWA – As part of its ongoing process of renewal and healing, Nova Scotia’s Antigonish diocese is promoting a program for parishioners based on Sr. Nuala Kenny’s book Healing in the Church: Diagnosing and Treating the Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis.

In a Jan. 20 pastoral letter, Antigonish Bishop Joseph Dunn invited the faithful to join one of these study groups as part of an ongoing process of renewal and healing leading up to a planned Diocesan Reconciliation Service in June.

“This workbook provides a guide for groups who are seeking to understand how this crisis occurred by exploring such topics as: the lessons learned from the crisis, who we are as a Church, and how clergy and laity need to relate to each other,” Dunn wrote.

The diocese is also about to release a five-year pastoral plan entitled Rebuilding Trust and Hope that will be distributed to parishes and be uploaded to the diocesan website, said diocesan spokesman Fr. Don MacGillivray in a statement.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA/VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

U.N. panel blasts Vatican handling of clergy sex abuse, church teachings on gays, abortion

By Anthony Faiola, Wednesday, February 5

BERLIN — A United Nations committee on Wednesday issued a scathing indictment of the Catholic Church’s handling of child sexual abuse cases involving clerics, releasing a report that went far beyond how the church managed abuse allegations to include criticism of its teachings on homosexuality, gender equality and abortion.

The scope of the report appeared to infuriate the Vatican — which had dispatched its top official on sexual abuse to appear before a U.N. committee in Geneva last month. Vatican officials said they were still studying the findings, but responded angrily to what they described as recommendations that were ideologically biased.

“Trying to ask the Holy See to change its teachings is not negotiable,” Silvano Maria Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer at the United Nations in Geneva, told Vatican Radio.

At a time when the Vatican has been riding a wave of positive publicity surrounding Pope Francis, the report once again shone a spotlight on the single largest stain on the Catholic Church’s global image: Its handling of allegations of sexual abuse by clerics.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic Free Press

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child continued to insist that the Vatican compile and publish detailed statistics on clerical sexual abuse of minors and that the pope, as head of the church, can and should order Catholic dioceses and religious orders around the world to implement all the policies of the U.N. Convention of the Rights of the Child.

The committee, which spent an entire day Jan. 16 questioning two Vatican representatives, also urged the Catholic Church to revise the Code of Canon Law to make it mandatory that bishops and religious superiors report suspected cases of sexual abuse to civil authorities, even in countries where civil law does not require such reporting.

The Vatican always has insisted that church law requires bishops and religious superiors to obey local laws on reporting suspected crimes; however, it also has said that where reporting is not mandatory and the victim does not want to go to the police, the victim’s wishes must be respected.

The “concluding observations” of the committee, which monitors compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the Holy See in 1990, were published Feb. 5.

A statement published by the Vatican press office the same day said, “The Holy See reiterates its commitment to defending and protecting the rights of the child, in line with the principles promoted by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and according to the moral and religious values offered by Catholic doctrine.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Gazetta del Sud

Vatican City, February 5 – A new United Nations report condemning the Catholic Church’s handling of a worldwide sexual abuse scandal appears to have been written before Holy See representatives even had a chance to tell their side of the story, a senior Vatican official said Wednesday. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations in Geneva, testified last month at a day-long hearing before the UN committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which issued a scathing report on Wednesday. The negative tone and conclusions of the report came as a “surprise,” said Tomasi. “It seems that had already been prepared before the meeting of the (UN) committee with the delegation of the Holy See,” said Tomasi. That suggests the report had a pre-determined “ideological line” that it followed in its findings, he added. The committee denounced the Vatican’s behavior in allegedly hiding decades of sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children by clergymen and urged the Church to make a full disclosure of its records so that culprits and “those who concealed their crimes” could face justice. In its wide-ranging and scathing report, the committee also called on the Holy See to “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers and turn them over to civil authorities.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The UN has accused the Vatican of “systematically” adopting policies allowing priests to sexually abuse thousands of children.

Pope Francis has said that dealing with abuse is vital for the Church’s credibility, but the Church has been criticised over its inadequate response to some of the allegations.

When did the sex abuse scandals in the Church first come to light?

US priest John Geoghan was jailed for his crimes, and later killed in prison by another inmate
The sexual abuse of children was rarely discussed in public before the 1970s, and it was not until the 1980s that the first cases of molestation by priests came to light, in the United States and Canada.

In the 1990s, revelations began of widespread abuse in Ireland.

In the new century, more cases of abuse have been revealed in more than a dozen countries around the world.

What are the most salient cases of abuse?

Two major reports into Irish allegations of paedophilia in 2009 revealed the shocking extent of abuse, cover-ups and hierarchical failings involving thousands of victims, and stretching back decades.

In one, four Dublin archbishops were found to have in effect turned a blind eye to cases of abuse from 1975 to 2004.

A fresh scandal erupted in March 2010 when it emerged the head of the Irish Catholic Church, Cardinal Sean Brady, was present at meetings in 1975 where children signed vows of silence over complaints against a paedophile priest, Fr Brendan Smyth. This prompted Pope Benedict XVI to apologise to Irish victims.

In the US, the Boston Archdiocese has been worst hit, with the activities of two of its priests, Paul Shanley and John Geoghan, causing public outrage. Cardinal Bernard Law resigned over the scandal in 2002.

In Mexico, the founder of the Legion of Christ order, Marcial Maciel, long admired by Pope John Paul II, was disciplined by the Vatican in 2006 over the abuse of boys and young men over a period of 30 years. The Legion insisted his was an isolated case, but seven more priests of the order have been investigated.

The bishop of the Belgian city of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, resigned in 2010 after admitting that he had sexually abused a boy for years.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
Irish Independent

05 FEBRUARY 2014

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, urging it to open its files on paedophiles and bishops who concealed their crimes.

In a devastating report hailed by victims, the UN committee severely criticised the Holy See for its attitudes towards homosexuality, contraception and abortion and said it should change its own canon law to ensure children’s rights and their access to healthcare are guaranteed. The Vatican promptly objected.

The report 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 on the spur of the moment in December, but few details have been released since then. …

It called for Francis’s 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.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Irish Times

Mary Carolan
Fri, Jan 31, 2014

The Sisters of Charity have asked the High Court to halt an action for damages brought against them by a woman who alleges she was raped and sexually assaulted over years by a groundsman employed in a Magdalene Laundry.

The woman claims she was so traumatised by the assaults that, to stop the groundsman accosting her on her way to and from school, she hammered her knee with a paperweight to such an extent she was hospitalised with a fractured knee and avoided going to school.

Her life has been severely affected by her experience. She changed from being a happy, normal child to one who became self-destructive, hated school, herself and people, left school early and developed alcohol, medication and relationship problems, it is claimed.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

The Holy See’s handling of the clerical sex abuse crisis that has rocked the Catholic Church for much of the last 20 years has come in for unprecedented criticism from the UN’s Geneva based Committee on the Rights of the Child.

In a report released today, following on a Vatican deposition in Geneva two weeks ago, the UN body says that the Church has failed to “acknowledge the extent of the crimes committed”.

Attempts to silence victims of abuse, the regular transferring of abuser priests from parish to parish and the “code of silence” imposed on clergy all form part of a corporate church culture which leads the committee to conclude:

“The Committee is particularly concerned that in dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse, the Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests, as observed by several national commissions of inquiry.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
The Raw Story

By Agence France-Presse
Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The Vatican was denounced in a devastating UN report Wednesday for failing to stamp out child abuse and the church was urged to remove all clergy suspected of raping or molesting children.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said “tens of thousands of children worldwide” had been abused systemically for years within the Catholic church.

It urged the Holy See to “immediately remove all known and suspected child sexual abusers from assignment and refer the matter to the relevant law enforcement authorities for investigation and prosecution purposes”.

In a hard-hitting report, the committee said the Roman Catholic Church was falling far short of its stated committment to stem abuse by priests and lay employees, including in schools.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
adnkronos

Rome, 5 February (AKI) – The Vatican said on Wednesday it regretted an attempt by the United Nations to “interfere” with Catholic teachings in a highly critical report on priests’ sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children worldwide.

In a statement, the Vatican said the newly issued report by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child would be “submitted to a thorough study and examination,” saying it remained committed to protecting children.

“The Holy See does, however, regret to see in some points of the Concluding Observations an attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of human person and in the exercise of religious freedom,” the statement noted.

In the report released Wednesday, the UN watchdog demanded that the Vatican “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers and heavily criticised the Vatican’s stance on homosexuality, contraception and abortion.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The United Nations has issued concluding observations on the reviewed reports of the Holy See and five States , Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It follows a hearing at the UN in Geneva attended by a group from Holy See last month. Heading the Vatican delegation at those discussions was Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva.

He gave his reaction to the report to Vatican Radio.

Q. What is the reaction of the Holy See to these harsh criticisms by the UN contained in this report?

The report in the concluding recommendations that the committee of the Convention on the Right of the Child that were released today point out a rather negative approach to what the Holy See has been doing and has already achieved in the area of the protection of children. The first impression is that the report in some ways is not up to date, not taking into account some of the clear and precise explanations that were given to the committee in the in the encounter that the delegation of the Holy See had with the committee three or four weeks ago. Second, I would say that there is a difficultly apparent in understanding the position of the Holy See that cannot certainly give up certain teachings that are part of their deep convictions and also an expression of freedom of religion and these are the values that in the tradition of the Catholic Church sustain the common good of society and therefore cannot be renounced, for example the committee asked for acceptance of abortion and this is a contradiction with the principle of life that the convention itself should support recommending that children be protected before and after birth. If a child is eliminated or killed we can no longer talk about rights for this person, so there is a need to calmly and in detail analyzing the recommendations proposed by the committee and provide an accurate response to the committee itself, so that there will be no misunderstanding on where we stand and the reason why we take certain positions and I would add that the practical remedies for preventing cases of abuse of children in forms of laws or decisions of Episcopal Conferences of directives for the formation of seminarians constitute a package of measures that is very difficult, I think, to find other institutions or even other states that have done so much specifically for the protection of children. So, my sense is that we have to continue to refine, to enact provisions that protect children in all their necessities so that they may grow and become productive adults in society and their dignity be constantly respected. And at the same time we have to keep in mind that even though there are so many millions, forty million cases of abuse a year regarding children and unfortunately some cases affect also Church personnel. We have to keep in mind that, we have to continue to combat this tragedy knowing that even a case of abuse of a child is a case too much.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
New Tang Dynasty Television

Many of the Catholics attending the pope’s weekly audience at the Vatican agree with a hard-hitting U.N. report on children’s rights demanding the immediate removal of clergy who are known or suspected child sex abusers.

Dark clouds hung over the Vatican on Wednesday as the United Nations published a scathing report blaming the Catholic Church for not doing enough to prevent abuse against children.

Pope Francis was in St. Peter’s square on Wednesday greeting crowds ahead of his weekly general audience. He called on children during his speech to pilgrims, to make sure they worked hard to prepare themselves for their first communion.

“It is important that children prepare themselves well for their first communion and all children do this because it is the first strong, strong step towards Jesus Christ after baptism,” the pope said.

In the unprecedented report the United Nations demanded the Vatican “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers and turn them over to civil authorities.

The U.N. watchdog for children’s rights said the Holy See should also hand over its archives on sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children so that culprits, as well as “those who concealed their crimes”, could be held accountable.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
Scotsman

A UN human rights committee has denounced the Vatican for adopting policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, and urged it to open its files on the paedophiles and churchmen who concealed their crimes.

In a devastating report, the UN committee also severely criticised the Holy See for its attitudes towards homosexuality, contraception and abortion and said it should review its policies to ensure children’s rights and their access to healthcare are guaranteed.

On sex abuse “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 the sex abuse commission that Pope Francis announced in December 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.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
New Tang Dynasty Television

VATICAN CITY, Feb 05, 2014 (AFP) –
The Vatican said Wednesday that it would study a damning UN report accusing it of failing to stamp out child abuse, but slammed criticism of its religious teachings as “interference”.

“The Holy See takes note of the concluding observations on its reports, which will be submitted to a thorough study and examination… according to international law and practice,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child accused the Church in its report of falling far short of its stated commitment to stem abuse by priests and lay employees and called on the Vatican to remove all those suspected of raping or molesting children.

The report followed a landmark hearing last month during which members of the committee — made up of 18 independent human rights experts from around the globe — grilled senior Churchmen and repeatedly questioned the Vatican’s resolve.

While agreeing to study the report on abuse, the Vatican reacted strongly to what it slammed as “interference” into Church teachings on abortion and homosexuality, after the UN called on the ancient institution to modernise and amend its attitudes.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
ITV (UK)

The Vatican has said it will give “thorough study and examination” to a UN report that has accused the Catholic Church of failing to act on, and even covering up, child sex abuse.

The Holy See made no comment on its suggested culpability but said the Church remained committed to protecting children from abuse.

However, it accused the UN committee responsible for the report of interfering with its teachings on abortion and contraception after the report recommended a change in the approach to sexual education in Catholic schools.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY/GENEVA
Bloomberg

By Andrew Frye Feb 5, 2014

A United Nations committee decried the Vatican’s response to sexual abuse on children by its clergy, saying the Holy See allowed alleged predators to strike again because it was more concerned about its reputation than the victims.

“In dealing with child victims of different forms of abuse, the Holy See has systematically placed preservation of the reputation of the church and the alleged offender over the protection of child victims,” the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said in a report released today. The panel said it is concerned the Holy See “has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the perpetrators.”

The Vatican, in an English-language response sent by e-mail, said it is committed “to defending and protecting the rights of the child.” The Vatican also said, without further explanation, it saw in the committee’s report “an attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of human person and in the exercise of religious freedom.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
news.va

(Vatican Radio) At the end of its 65th session, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has published its Concluding Observations on the reviewed Reports of the Holy See and five States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Congo, Germany, Portugal, Russian Federation and Yemen).

Please find below a statement issued by the Holy See following the publishing of the U.N. reports:

According to the proper procedures forseen for the parties to the Convention, the Holy See takes note of the Concluding Observations on its Reports, which will be submitted to a thorough study and examination, in full respect of the Convention in the different areas presented by the Committee according to international law and practice, as well as taking into consideration the public interactive debate with the Committee, held on 16 January 2014.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
The Journal (Ireland)

THE VATICAN HAS responded to a report by a United Nations committee which criticised its policies that allowed for systematic and continued abuse of children by its priests.

In a statement this afternoon, the Holy See reiterated its commitment to defending and protecting the rights of children “in line with the principles promoted by the Convention of the Rights of the Child and according to the moral and religious values offered by Catholic doctrine”.

It confirmed that it had taken note of the concluding observations in the report, adding that it will be thoroughly studied and examined.

However, it also said that it “regrets” that some of the observations by the committee on the rights of the child are an attempt to “interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of the human person and in the exercise of religious freedom”.

The report commented on the Church’s positions on homosexuality, contraception and abortion.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas C. Fox | Feb. 5, 2014 NCR Today

In an unprecedented report critical of the Catholic church’s handling of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, the United Nations demanded Wednesday the Vatican immediately remove all clergy known or suspected to be child abusers, turn them over to civil authorities, and hold “those who concealed their crimes” accountable.

The report by the U.N. watchdog for children’s rights targets bishops for enabling the abuse over decades. Church child sex abuse watchdogs maintain many hundreds of bishops have enabled and covered up abuse but have never been held accountable by authorities inside or outside the church.

The UN report called on the Vatican to turn over tens of thousands of potentially incriminating documents held in its archives, according to various news reports.

It was the most far-reaching critique of the church hierarchy by the world body and followed its public grilling of Vatican officials last month.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA/VATICAN CITY
KOSU

Filed by KOSU .
February 5, 2014

The Vatican “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,” a U.N. human rights committee charged Wednesday.

The Associated Press adds that in the “devastating report,” the committee condemns the Vatican “for adopting policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, and urged it to open its files on the pedophiles and the churchmen who concealed their crimes.”

The Committee on the Rights of the Child “also severely criticized the Holy See for its attitudes toward homosexuality, contraception and abortion and said it should review its policies to ensure children’s rights and their access to health care are guaranteed,” the AP says.

From Rome, NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli tells our Newscast Desk that “the report came after a day-long interrogation of Vatican officials on the Holy See’s handling of the global sex abuse scandals. … The officials were asked why church authorities repeatedly covered up cases of abuse of children by priests. The Vatican insists it is not responsible for abusive priests, saying local bishops are.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
GlobalPost

Agence France-Presse February 5, 2014

An advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests called Wednesday for legal action after a devastating UN report denounced the Vatican for failing to stamp out the scourge.

The UN report “is a wake-up call, not to Catholic officials — who’ve known about and concealed abuse for decades and still do — but for secular officials, especially those in law enforcement,” the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said in a statement.

Law enforcers “can and should investigate Catholic abuses and coverups and prosecute the church supervisors who are still protecting predators and endangering children,” it said the statement by SNAP president Barbara Blaine.

“For the safety of children, we hope every head of state on the planet reads this and acts on it,” she added.

The reaction came after the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said “tens of thousands of children worldwide” had been abused systemically for years within the Catholic Church.

It called on the Church to remove all clergy suspected of raping or molesting children.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
CNN

By Mariano Castillo and Richard Greene, CNN
updated 8:58 AM EST, Wed February 5, 2014

(CNN) — In an unprecedented report, a United Nations committee slammed the Vatican’s handling of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and accused the church of protecting itself rather than the victims.

The Vatican should establish an “independent mechanism for monitoring children’s rights” to investigate complaints and work with law enforcement, according to the report, which was released Wednesday.

It calls for the church to immediately remove all known or suspected abusers from its ranks.

The report follows a hearing last month where Vatican officials were grilled over the church’s handling of child abuse allegations.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
WAFB

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) – The Vatican “systematically” adopted policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, a U.N. human rights committee said Wednesday, urging it to open its files on pedophiles and bishops who concealed their crimes.

In a devastating report hailed by victims, the U.N. 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.

The report 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 at the spur of the moment 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 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the key U.N. treaty on child protection, which the Holy See ratified in 1990. …

Austen Ivereigh, coordinator 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.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
Voice of America

Jerome Socolovsky
February 04, 2014

The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child will issue recommendations on Wednesday following an investigation into the Vatican’s response to the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy. Although the recommendations are non-binding, it marks the first time the Holy See had to answer questions at an international hearing dedicated to the issue.

Priests have been convicted, and dioceses bankrupted by lawsuits. But last month’s hearing in Geneva was the first time the Vatican had to answer an international panel’s questions about pedophile priests.

The Vatican’s U.N. representative Archbishop Silvano Tomasi testified.

“The Holy See has carefully delineated policies and procedures designed to help eliminate such abuse,” he said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014

Statement by Peter Isely of Milwaukee, board member of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 414-429-7259, peterisely@yahoo.com )

It’s utterly tragic that a respected international panel of experts feels, in 2014, compelled to tell Catholic officials that they must “Immediately remove all known and suspected child sexual abusers from assignment and refer the matter to the relevant law enforcement authorities for investigation and prosecution.”

That is, of course, common sense and common decency. That the church hierarchy must be told this is damning.

It’s striking that the United Nations panel stresses that the Vatican’ wrongdoing is on-going. Some Catholic officials and their public relations teams try very hard to pretend that they’re “reforming.” This report shows that’s largely deception.

Here are five of the panels’ most important findings

1) The Vatican “still places children in many countries at high risk of sexual abuse, as dozens of child sexual offenders are reported to be still in contact with children.”

(This is, in our view, a dreadful understatement. Hundreds of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics still hold church jobs or are around kids. Only a tiny fraction of credibly accused and suspended child molesting priests, nuns, bishops, brothers and seminarians are monitored by church officials (and even then, not monitored well). An even smaller group are ever criminally prosecuted. So most sex offender clergy remain either on the job or unsupervised.)

2) The Vatican “has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests, as observed by several national commissions of inquiry.” and has “policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the perpetrators.”

3) On “numerous occasions,” the Vatican “has refused to cooperate with law enforcement authorities and to disclose information requested by prosecutors and national commissions of inquiry”

4) The Vatican “has signed treaties with certain States, notably Italy, which guarantee areas of immunity from prosecution to Vatican officials, including for bishops and priests accused of offences.”

5) The Vatican should “promote the reform of statute of limitations in countries where they impede victims of child sexual abuse from seeking justice.” (In reality, time and time again, Catholic officials have fought hard against this simple reform.)

The panel flatly rejected Vatican officials’ claims that:

– it doesn’t control priests across the planet (“child sexual abuse committed by members of the Catholic churches who operate under the authority of the Holy See, with clerics having been involved in the sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children worldwide”.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 5 February 2014 (VIS) – This morning the Holy See Press Office issued a communique on the observations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, the full text of which is published below:

“At the end of its 65th session, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has published its Concluding Observations on the reviewed Reports of the Holy See and five States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Congo, Germany, Portugal, Russian Federation and Yemen).

According to the proper procedures foreseen for the parties to the Convention, the Holy See takes note of the Concluding Observations on its Reports, which will be submitted to a thorough study and examination, in full respect of the Convention in the different areas presented by the Committee according to international law and practice, as well as taking into consideration the public interactive debate with the Committee, held on 16 January 2014.

The Holy See does, however, regret to see in some points of the Concluding Observations an attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of the human person and in the exercise of religious freedom.

The Holy See reiterates its commitment to defending and protecting the rights of the child, in line with the principles promoted by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and according to the moral and religious values offered by Catholic doctrine”.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
The Star

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican, responding to a scathing U.N. report on sexual abuse of children by priests, said on Wednesday the Roman Catholic Church was committed to “defending and protecting the rights of the child”.

A statement said the Vatican would submit the U.N. report to “thorough study and examination”. But it also said the world body was interfering in Catholic moral teachings because the report criticised its positions on homosexuality, contraception and abortion.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
World Bulletin

World Bulletin / News Desk

The Vatican, responding to a scathing U.N. report on sexual abuse of children by priests, said on Wednesday the Roman Catholic Church was committed to “defending and protecting the rights of the child”.

A statement said the Vatican would submit the U.N. report to “thorough study and examination”. But it also said the world body was interfering in Catholic moral teachings because the report criticised its positions on homosexuality, contraception and abortion.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Straits Times (Singapore)

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – The Vatican said on Wednesday that it “takes note” of a damning United Nations report accusing it of failing to stamp out child abuse, but slammed criticism of its attitude to abortion as interference.

“The Holy See takes note of the concluding observations on its reports… (but) does, however, regret to see… an attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of the human person… (and) reiterates its commitment to defending and protecting the rights of the child,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Mercury News

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
Posted: 02/05/2014

VATICAN CITY—The Vatican says it regrets what it calls the attempt by a U.N. committee to interfere with its teaching on abortion and contraception in a damning report on the priestly sex abuse scandal.

The U.N. report on Wednesday said the Vatican should change its rules on abortion and teach sexual education in Catholic schools to ensure children’s rights and their access to health care are guaranteed.

The Vatican said in a statement that it remains committed to defending and protecting the rights of children but that it regrets that the committee had attempted “to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of human person and in the exercise of religious freedom.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
The Tablet (UK)

05 February 2014 12:40 by Abigail Frymann

The United Nations demanded that the Vatican “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected of having abused minors and report them to civil authorities.

The UN committee on Protection on Rights of the Child today issued a damning and wide-ranging 16-page report following the appearance of a Vatican delegation in Geneva three weeks ago.

The watchdog said the Holy See should also hand over its records on abuse of tens of thousands of children so that culprits, as well as “those who concealed their crimes”, could be held accountable.

“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 added: “The Committee is particularly concerned that in dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse, the Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENF
N24 (Deutschland)

Die katholische Kirche steht wegen des sexuellen Missbrauchs durch Priester unter Beschuss. Die UNO wirft dem Vatikan vor, die Verbrechen vertuschen zu wollen und die Täter sogar zu schützen.
Der UN-Ausschuss für die Rechte der Kinder hat dem Vatikan die Verletzung der

Kinderrechtskonvention der Vereinten Nationen vorgeworfen. “Sie verletzen die Konvention”, sagte die Ausschussvorsitzende Kirsten Sandberg. Zur Begründung sagte sie, der Vatikan habe nicht genug getan, um Kindesmissbrauch in der katholischen Kirche zu unterbinden.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
RT

The UN Human Rights Committee has blamed the Vatican for indulging longstanding policies enabling priests to sexually abuse children, and called to open pedophile files and disclose the names of those clergymen who assisted in concealing such crimes.

A scathing UN report published on Wednesday accuses the Holy See of a systematic blackout concerning the molestation of children, claiming that tens of thousands of children have been raped by priests.

“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 and the impunity of the perpetrators,” said the report.

The UN Committee recommended the Holy See to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child properly. It is the world’s most important international treaty protecting children’s rights. The UN also called for suspected clerics to be handed over to the police.

The report accuses the Catholic Church of putting the organization’s reputation ahead of the duty to protect children and ensure their access to health care.

The report followed a harsh interrogation in January of two high-ranking Catholic clerics on known cases of child sex abuse by clergy. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva, and Bishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s former chief prosecutor of sex abuse cases, were interrogated by an 18-member committee for many hours.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
Express (UK)

THE VATICAN has come under pressure from the United Nations to expose and ban all priests who are known and suspected child abusers.

By: Emily Fox
Published: Wed, February 5, 2014

The UN today denounced the Vatican for “systematically’ adopting policies which have allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children for decades.

In a damning report, the United Nations watchdog for children’s rights severely criticised the Holy See for its attitude toward child abusers, homosexuality, contraception and abortion.

Pope Francis had previously vowed to tackle child abuse within the Catholic Church, having set up a commission to fight preistly abuse.

But according to the UN, the commission had yet to go far enough.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Center for Constitutional Rights

U.N. Expresses “Deepest Concern” over Widespread Sexual Abuse by Clergy, Finding Vatican Failed to Protect Children

Committee Calls for Overhaul of Policies to Enable Protection and Accountability, Full Disclosure of Clergy Sex Abuse Records

press@ccrjustice.org

February 5, 2014, New York – “The Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests, as observed by several national commissions of inquiry,” wrote a United Nations Committee today. The Vatican must undertake a series of reforms to meet its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and disclose records on all cases of child sexual abuse committed by Catholic clergy around the world, according to concluding observations released today by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child. The U.N. Committee questioned Vatican representatives in a public hearing last month regarding the Vatican’s handling of the global crisis of sexual violence committed by Catholic clergy, including allegations that it enabled sexual violence against children by transferring pedophile priests to different parishes or destroying evidence in order to cover up their crimes. This was the first time Vatican officials have been directly questioned by an international body on this topic.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and their attorneys from the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which had submitted a joint report to the Committee, had been in attendance at the hearing in Geneva.

“We are so gratified that the U.N. has taken up this issue with such seriousness,” said Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP. “The more international bodies and local governments step up, the sooner we can end the Vatican practices, including cover-ups, that continue to result in the rape of children and other vulnerable adults in the Church.”

The U.N 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 Committee lamented the “code of silence” that has allowed both abusers and those who have covered it up to “escape judicial proceedings.” Among its many recommendations, the U.N. Committee called on the Vatican to “immediately remove all known and suspected child sexual abusers from assignment and refer the matter to the relevant law enforcement authorities for investigation and prosecution purposes.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GENEVA
Daily Mail (UK)

By JILL REILLY

The United Nations has demanded that the Vatican ‘immediately remove’ all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers and turn them over to civil authorities, in an unprecedented and scathing report.

The U.N. watchdog for children’s rights said the Holy See should also hand over its archives on sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children so that culprits, as well as ‘those who concealed their crimes’, could be held accountable.

The watchdog’s exceptionally blunt paper – the most far-reaching critique of the Church hierarchy by the world body – followed its public grilling of Vatican officials last month.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN CITY
Lowell Sun

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A U.N. human rights committee denounced the Vatican on Wednesday for “systematically” adopting policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, and urged it to open its files on the pedophiles and the bishops who concealed their crimes.

In a devastating report, the U.N. committee also 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 U.N. 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. …

No Catholic bishop has ever been sanctioned 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 Pope Francis, things might begin to change.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.