NEW YORK
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody
Posted on September 19, 2015 by Betty Clermont
Given the magnitude of the media coverage the next week, this is Pope Francis’ best opportunity to strengthen his geopolitical influence and power.
Please see “A Subversive Guide to the Pope’s US Visit: Washington DC and Philadelphia.” My purpose is to provide information omitted by the mainstream media.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 (NEW YORK CITY)
8:30 a.m. Address to the United Nations General Assembly
Pope Francis will address the UNGA when “more than 150 heads-of-state and government of the world are gathering” for the Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The agenda is centered on “eight globally agreed goals in the areas of poverty alleviation, education, gender equality and empowerment of women, child and maternal health, environmental sustainability, reducing HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases, and building a global partnership for development.”
One can only wonder what type of reception the pope will receive from the delegates who have worked for women’s and children’s human rights and adequate healthcare. Regardless, the pope will use this as another opportunity to talk about women’s equality and empowerment. …
Sex Abuse
The pope has failed to take any of the measures recommended by two UN committees to protect children.
On July 1, 2013, the United Nation’s Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) sent a request to the Holy See for “detailed information on all cases of child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, brothers or nun” for the past fifteen years and set November 1 as a deadline for a reply. Additionally, the questionnaire sought to establish whether “perpetrators of sexual crimes” were allowed to remain in contact with children and what legal action was taken against them. The CRC also asked whether reporting of suspected abuse to civil authorities was mandatory and for any incidents where complainants were silenced. The questions were sent as preparation for a public hearing scheduled for January 2014 in Geneva and a November 1 deadline was set. As one of the signatories to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Vatican was fifteen years late in delivering a report describing whether it had acted to “protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence” as the convention requires.
The deadline came and went. Pope Francis responded to the CRC on December 4 by stating that it was not the practice of his government to “disclose information on specific cases unless requested to do so by another country as part of legal proceedings” and “that the Vatican can provide information only about known and alleged child sex crimes that have happened on Vatican property.”
BishopAccountability.org, a group dedicated to documenting the Catholic sex abuse crisis, noted five significant moments from the January 2014 hearing:
• For the first time, the Vatican had to admit publicly that it still does not require the reporting of child sex crimes to civil authorities.
• Nor does it take this step when priests are defrocked.
• The Holy See still refused to provide the data requested on July 1.
• The Vatican believes that it is the obligation of the individual perpetrator, not the Church, to compensate victims.
• Religious orders, which comprise one third to one half of the world’s Catholic clerics, still are not being compelled by the Holy See to create abuse policies.
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.