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.
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