UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Brian Cahill | Mar. 13, 2014
VIEWPOINT
The unprecedented United Nations interrogation of the Vatican regarding the scale of priestly child abuse is long overdue, but it remains to be seen how effective Pope Francis’ child abuse commission will be. In the United States, aside from the unfolding story in Chicago, many questions about the lack of accountability of some American bishops must be answered before the Vatican child protection effort will have any credibility.
The Vatican was obligated to respond to the U.N. representatives because it is a 1990 signatory to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which calls for all governments to take adequate measures to protect children. Rome ignored the requirements of this agreement and provided no annual progress reports for the last 18 years until 2012. But there is another story here.
While the Vatican blew off this U.N. mandate when it came to the sexual abuse of children, it took the agreement very seriously when it came to another matter. In 2003, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, issued an updated teaching against gay marriage. The teaching for the first time specifically prohibited same-sex couples from being adoptive parents, and cited the Convention on the Rights of the Child as support for the Roman prohibition. When it came to priests abusing vulnerable children, the agreement was ignored, but when it came to gay and lesbian couples adopting vulnerable children, it was run up the Roman flagpole. The irony is only exceeded by the hypocrisy.
In restoring church credibility, Francis can start by ensuring that the U.N. agreement is used to protect children and not discriminate against loving, nurturing adoptive parents. And if he wants to continue his compassionate and pastoral leadership, he should get rid of the harsh and disrespectful language in the 2003 Vatican document. In referring to same-sex couples, the Vatican language states, “Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would actually mean doing violence to these 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.