GENEVA
Wall Street Journal
By Liam Moloney
ROME—A second United Nations report this year has criticized the Vatican for its handling of the clerical sexual abuses of minors within the Catholic Church, without finding violations of a U.N. treaty against torture.
Friday’s U.N. report focused on the Vatican’s record on protecting children, condemning the church’s past practices of shielding its members through a widely-criticized tradition of moving abusers to other parishes or abroad, for failing to report to police such crimes, and not providing adequate financial compensation to victims.
The Holy See must “prevent the transfer of clergy who have been credibly accused of abuse for the purposes of avoiding proper investigation and punishment of their crimes,” wrote the U.N.’s Committee Against Torture in its final observations.
It must also “take effective measures to ensure that allegations…are communicated to the proper civil authorities to facilitate their investigation and prosecution of alleged perpetrators,” it added.
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