GENEVA/VATICAN CITY
Reuters
* Says Church put reputation before protection of children
* Seeks financial compensation for Ireland’s Magdalene scandal
* Vatican expected to respond later on Wednesday (Adds reaction of victims, Vatican official, more from document)
By Stephanie Nebehay and Philip Pullella
GENEVA/VATICAN CITY, Feb 5 (Reuters) – The United Nations 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 on Wednesday.
Church officials had imposed a “code of silence” on clerics, to prevent them reporting attacks to police, and moved abusers from parish to parish “in an attempt to cover-up such crimes,” the U.N.’s Child Rights watchdog said.
The Holy See now needed to hand over an archive of evidence about the abuse of tens of thousands of children, and take measures to prevent a repeat of cases such as Ireland’s Magdalene laundries scandal, where girls were forced to work in church-run institutions, it added. …
The Vatican was expected to issue a statement on the report later on Wednesday.
“It’s a wake-up call …,” said Barbara Blaine of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). “For the safety of children, we hope every head of state on the planet reads this and acts on it.”
Pope Francis has called sexual abuse of children “the shame of the Church” and has vowed to continue procedures put in place by his predecessor Benedict XVI.
The U.N. said a commission the pontiff created in December should invite outside experts and victims to participate in an investigation of abusers “as well as the conduct of the Catholic hierarchy in dealing with them.”
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