“Outdated, interfering and ideological”. This is how the Vatican reacted to the UN Committee on the Right of the Child (CRC) report on the Holy See’s handling of Catholic Church’s child abuse crisis. The panel’s report, released yesterday, condemns the Church’s policies for placing children at risk, and recommends immediate action to remove predatory priests from their positions. It also advises that the Vatican opens the archive of past abuse cases. The report comes after the Holy See appeared before the CRC last month. In this lengthy public confrontation - the hearing was broadcast live - the Vatican’s representatives insisted that the Church is committed to “holding inviolable the dignity of every child”, and that the institution is taking measures to prevent future abuse. Charles Scicluna, Vatican representative and the auxiliary bishop of Malta, clarified the Vatican’s position on the matter: "The Holy See gets it," he said. However, several commentators, including abuse victim advocate groups, complained that the Vatican had dodged the most difficult questions and given empty promises of transparency.
Yesterday's CRC’s report concludes:
"The committee is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the perpetrators,"
Unsurprisingly, the Vatican has rejected this conclusion. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer at the UN in Geneva, said that the report ignores recent progress made by the Vatican in preventing future abuse. Right before the January UN hearing, Pope Francis set up a committee to fight child abuse, which is to come up with initiatives to prevent abuse and report regularly to the Pope. What Tomasi didn’t mention is that at the same time, the Vatican refused to disclose information on predatory priests to the CRC.
The report also expresses concerns that some of the Church’s teachings are harmful to the health of both children and adults, and advices the Vatican to reconsider its position on homosexuality, contraception and abortion. This according to the Vatican’s spokesmen is unacceptable interference. The Vatican's statement said:
"The Holy See regrets to see in some points of the concluding observations an attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of human person and in the exercise of religious freedom."
Tomasi added that the UN cannot ask the Vatican to change its “non-negotiable” moral teachings. In an interview for Vatican Radio, he also said that he suspected that pro-gay rights NGOs had "reinforced an ideological line" in the UN and influenced the CRC’s recommendations.
The Holy See has been a signatory of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child since 1995: countries that have ratified the Convention are bound to it by international law, and required to report to the CRC on the status of children’s rights in their countries. This is the first time that the UN Committee has questioned Vatican’s handling of the Church's child abuse crisis, so it remains to be seen what changes, if any, the report will bring about. The Holy See said that the report's findings will be put "to a thorough study and examination," but as the CRC’s recommendations are non-binding, immediate improvements probably should not be expected. The report was nevertheless welcomed by advocacy groups who hope that the UN’s criticism will force the Holy See towards greater transparency. "This day has been a long time coming," said Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney at the US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights. "But the international community is finally holding the Vatican accountable for its role in enabling and perpetuating sexual violence in the church."
