GENEVA
Catholic News Service
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The U.N. Committee Against Torture urged the Vatican to impose “meaningful sanctions” on any church authority who fails to follow church law in dealing with allegations of sexual abuse and asked that church officials worldwide be required to report abuse allegations to local police.
The committee’s recommendations were issued May 23 as a follow-up to a May 5-6 session at which Vatican representatives were questioned about the Holy See’s report on its adherence to the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.
In a statement May 23, the Vatican said it would “give serious consideration” to the committee’s recommendations, although it said the committee mistakenly gave “the impression that all the priests serving around the world are directly, legally tied to the Vatican as a sovereign.”
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Vatican representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, had tried to explain to the committee that the Holy See had direct juridical control only over Vatican City State, its citizens and employees, but not over all bishops and priests around the world. “It is one thing to be able to exercise jurisdiction and another to encourage a certain type of activity” or adoption of certain policies in Catholic communities around the globe, he had said.
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