ROME
The Associated Press via WRAL.com
October 2, 2017
By Nicole Winfield
The Vatican’s secretary of state is headlining an international conference on protecting children from online sexual abuse and exploitation, weeks after he recalled one of his diplomats who was caught up in a U.S.-Canadian investigation into child porn.
Organizers said the arrest warrant issued for Monsignor Carlo Capella showed the need for the conference, which opens Tuesday and ends Friday when participants bring a set of proposals to Pope Francis.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin will deliver the keynote address on “The Holy See and its commitment to combatting sex abuse online.” Panelists include leading researchers in public health, law enforcement, government as well as executives form Facebook and Microsoft — evidence of the across-the-board realization that the digital age is bringing exponential new threats to children.
“The risks are everywhere. It is not a western problem,” said the Rev. Hans Zollner, conference organizer and head of the Center for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Catholic Church’s leading research and education center on sexual abuse prevention and child protection.
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