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UN committee blasts Vatican on sex abuse, abortion

AP 2/5/2014 3:09:03 PM

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican "systematically" adopted policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, a U.N. human rights committee said Wednesday, urging the Holy See to open its files on pedophiles and bishops who concealed their crimes.

In a devastating report hailed by abuse victims, the U.N. committee severely criticized the Holy See for its attitudes toward homosexuality, contraception and abortion and said it should change its own canon law to ensure children's rights and their access to health care are guaranteed.

The Vatican promptly objected and its U.N. ambassador accused the committee of having betrayed the international body's own objectives by allowing itself to be swayed by pro-gay ideologues. He said it appeared the committee simply hadn't listened when the Holy See outlined all the measures it has taken to protect children.

The report, which took the Vatican by surprise in its harsh tone, puts renewed pressure on Pope Francis to move decisively on the abuse front and make good on pledges to create a Vatican commission to study sex abuse and recommend best practices to fight it. The commission was announced in December, but few details have been released since then.

The committee issued its recommendations after subjecting the Holy See to a daylong interrogation last month on its implementation of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the key U.N. treaty on child protection, which the Holy See ratified in 1990.

Critically, the committee rejected the Vatican's longstanding argument that it doesn't control bishops or their abusive priests, saying the Holy See was responsible for implementing the treaty not just in the Vatican City State but around the world "as the supreme power of the Catholic Church through individuals and institutions placed under its authority."

In its report, the committee blasted the "code of silence" that has long been used to keep victims quiet, saying the Holy See had "systematically placed preservation of the reputation of the church and the alleged offender over the protection of child victims." It called on the Holy See to provide compensation to victims and hold accountable not just the abusers, but also those who covered up their crimes.

"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," the report said.

It called for Francis' nascent abuse commission to conduct an independent investigation of all cases of priestly abuse and the way the Catholic hierarchy has responded over time, and urged the Holy See to establish clear rules for the mandatory reporting of abuse to police and to support laws that allow victims to report crimes even after the statute of limitations has expired.

No Catholic bishop has ever been sanctioned by the Vatican for sheltering an abusive priest, and only in 2010 did the Holy See direct bishops to report abusers to police where law enforcement requires it. Vatican officials have acknowledged that bishop accountability remains a major problem and have suggested that under Francis, things might begin to change.

The committee's recommendations are non-binding and there is no enforcement mechanism. Instead, the U.N. asked the Vatican to implement the recommendations and report back by 2017. The Vatican was 14 years late submitting its most recent report.

The committee is made up of independent experts, not other U.N. member states — the case on the larger and often politicized U.N. Human Rights Council, which also sits in Geneva. The Committee on the Rights of the Child is one of 10 U.N. bodies that monitor implementation of the core U.N. human rights treaties, and its 18 members include academics, sociologists and child development specialists from around the globe.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, who headed the Vatican delegation at the Jan. 16 session in Geneva, was clearly taken aback by the scathing tone of the report.

"It seems as if the document was prepared before the committee meeting, where the Vatican gave detailed responses on various points that weren't reported in this concluding document or seem to not have been taken into consideration," he told Vatican Radio.

While most attention has focused on child sex abuse, the committee's recommendations extended far beyond, into issues about discrimination against children and their rights to adequate health care, matters that touch on core church teaching about life and sexual morals.

The committee, for example, urged the Vatican to amend its canon law to identify circumstances where access to abortion can be permitted for children, such as to save the life of a young mother. It urged the Holy See to ensure that sex education, including access to information about contraception and preventing HIV, is mandatory in Catholic schools. It called for the Holy See to use its moral authority to condemn discrimination against homosexual children, or children raised by same-sex couples.

Church teaching holds that life begins at conception. The Vatican, which therefore opposes abortion and artificial contraception, calls for respect for gays, but considers homosexual acts to be "intrinsically disordered." The Vatican has a history of diplomatic confrontation with the United Nations over such issues.

Tomasi said the call to reconsider abortion ran against the U.N. treaty's own objectives to protect the life of children before and after birth, and he accused pro-gay rights and gay marriage advocacy groups of having "reinforced an ideological line" with the committee.

Benyam Mezmur, a committee member and Ethiopian academic on children's legal rights, rejected any such criticism and said the committee report was balanced and was aimed purely at ensuring the treaty was implemented.

"The Committee on the Rights of the Child is not in the business of saying 'Well said.' We are in the business of saying 'Well done.' We want to see concrete measures," he said in a phone interview from Geneva.

Austen Ivereigh, coordinator of Catholic Voices, a church advocacy group, said the report was a "shocking display of ignorance and high-handedness."

He said it failed to acknowledge the progress that has been made in recent years and that the Catholic Church in many places is now considered a leader in safeguarding children. And he noted that the committee seemed unable to grasp the distinction between the responsibilities and jurisdiction of the Holy See, and local churches on the ground.

"It takes no account of the particularities of the Holy See, treating it as if it were the HQ of a multinational corporation," he said in an email.

But victims groups hailed the report as a wake-up call to secular law enforcement officials to investigate abuse and any cover-ups, and prosecute church officials who are still protecting predator priests.

"This report gives hope to the hundreds of thousands of deeply wounded and still suffering clergy sex abuse victims across the world," said Barbara Blaine, president of the main U.S. victim's group SNAP. "Now it's up to secular officials to follow the U.N.'s lead and step in to safeguard the vulnerable because Catholic officials are either incapable or unwilling to do so."

UN committee blasts Vatican on sex abuse, abortion

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Permalink Reply by Dawn Marie on February 5, 2014 at 7:08pm

Power Grab?

By: Dr. Robert Moynihan

"Put not your trust in princes." — Psalm 146:3

A United Nations committee today, in a 15-page report, denounced the Vatican's record in allegedly not protecting children from priestly sexual abuse, then went on to question the freedom of the Catholic Church to create and live by her own canon law, asking the Church to change her laws and adopt a secular sexual morality on matters ranging from homosexuality to abortion.

It was a striking attempt to make the case for the imposition of limits by the UN on the freedom of the Church, and on the sovereignty of the Vatican.

(In the photo below: Kirsten Sandberg, center, chairperson of the U.N. human rights committee on the rights of the child, talks to committee members Maria Herczog, right, and Benyam Mezmur during a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva,

Switzerland,Wednesday, February 5, 2014. A U.N. human rights committee denounced the Vatican on Wednesday for adopting policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, and urged it to open its files on the pedophiles and the churchmen who concealed their crimes. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

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The Vatican immediately responded with a vigorous defense of the Church's right to be free, to be sovereign, to decide her own internal laws and structures.

A shot has been fired -- and there has been a response.

But this promises to be only the opening exchange of fire in a long and critically important contest in which global secular authorities will seek to "merge" or "conform" the Church into the UN's vision of a new global society, while the Church seeks to remain free -- as is her right, and duty.

In the long history of the Church, the relations between "secular" and "sacred" authority have never been without tensions.

There is considerable ambiguity in this relationship.

Peter (and, it says, "the other apostles" as well) taught that "we must obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29) This became a "proof-text" for Christian civil disobedience against laws Christians believe are unjust down through the ages -- for not accepting the command of a government which asks Christians to do something they believe is immoral.

However, Paul taught that the Church and believers are to be "subject" to worldly (secular) authorities. "Let every person be submissive to the governing authorities," he wrote in the Letter to the Romans. "For there is no authority except that given by God and those who are appointed by God."

This request to "be submissive" could seem to be in conflict with the instruction of St. Peter; it has been used by Christians down through the centuries to justify "going along" with certain government decrees, even if they seem unwise, or seem to lead toward evil results. [Note: These lines just cited are the beginning of the famous passage on relations between Christians and governing authorities in Romans 13:1-17. Some scripture scholars, notably James Kallas in a 1965 essay, go so far as to argue that this precise section, Roman 13:1-7, could be an interpolation, that is, a later addition, words not written by Paul himself. Why? Because this is the only place in all of his letters where Paul speaks about being subject to secular authorities, and because the textual tradition -- that is, the text handed down by the earliest manuscripts -- in the last chapters of theLetter to the Romans is confusing and hotly debated. Still, most scholars do accept that these lines are actually by St. Paul.]

So there is a clear instruction to "disobey" immoral laws, and a possibly contradictory instruction to "be submissive" to secular authorities -- and there have over the centuries been varying positions along the spectrum between obedience and disobedience.

But even if Christians may disagree about what precise attitude to take toward certain laws, all would agree that a Christian has the right to judge those laws.

And all the more so does the Church have that right.

And this right, the right of the Church, under the Holy See, under Pope Francis, successor of Peter, Vicar of Christ, to be free, is not negotiable.

Here follow three reports which should help give the context of this remarkable "power grab":

(1) excerpts from an AP account of the UN report

(2) excerpts a Fox News account of the Vatican's response;

(2) the fill text of a passionate commentary by William Donahue, head of the Catholic League, and American group based in New York City which defends Catholic identity and the freedom of the Church.

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The AP report on the UN document:

UN committee blasts Vatican on sexual abuse, abortion

AP 2/5/2014 3:09:03 PM

The Vatican promptly objected and its U.N. ambassador accused the committee of having betrayed the international body's own objectives by allowing itself to be swayed by pro-gay ideologues.

He said it appeared the committee simply hadn't listened when the Holy See outlined all the measures it has taken to protect children.

(...)

The Committee on the Rights of the Child is one of 10 U.N. bodies that monitor implementation of the core U.N. human rights treaties, and its 18 members include academics, sociologists and child development specialists from around the globe.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, who headed the Vatican delegation at the Jan. 16 session in Geneva, was clearly taken aback by the scathing tone of the report.

While most attention has focused on child sexual abuse, the committee's recommendations extended far beyond, into issues about discrimination against children and their rights to adequate health care, matters that touch on core Church teaching about life and sexual morals.

The committee, for example, urged the Vatican to amend its canon law to identify circumstances where access to abortion can be permitted for children, such as to save the life of a young mother.

It urged the Holy See to ensure that sexual education, including access to information about contraception and preventing HIV, is mandatory in Catholic schools.

It called for the Holy See to use its moral authority to condemn discrimination against homosexual children, or children raised by homosexual couples.

(...)

Austen Ivereigh, coordinator of Catholic Voices, a Church advocacy group, said the report was a "shocking display of ignorance and high-handedness."

========================

The Fox News report:

VATICAN CITY, February 5 -- The Vatican blasted back at a UN-authored Rights of Children report, saying its criticism of the Church's stand on homosexuality is driven by critics of the Church's "non-negotiable" teachings.The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, whose members have included
such nations as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Uganda and Thailand, accused the Vatican
Wednesday of "systematically" adopting policies that allowed priests to rape
and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, and urged it to open
its files on pedophiles and bishops who concealed their crimes.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the head of the Holy See's delegation to the
United Nations in Geneva, told Vatican Radio that non-governmental
organizations which favor gay marriage probably influenced the committee to
reinforce an "ideological line" in the report.

He did not note the irony of nations like Syria, which has used poison gas on children, Uganda, where kids have been forced to fight, kill and die in wars, and Thailand, which has long been accused of tolerating a child slave trade, having served on the committee, which currently consists of representatives from 18 nations.The UN report also severely criticized the Holy See for its attitudes toward
homosexuality, contraception and abortion, and said it should change its own
canon law to ensure children's rights and their access to health care are
guaranteed.

(...)

The report called for Francis' nascent abuse commission to conduct an
independent investigation of all cases of priestly abuse and the way the
Catholic hierarchy has responded over time, and urged the Holy See to
establish clear rules for the mandatory reporting of abuse to police and to
support laws that allow victims to report crimes even after the statute of
limitations has expired.

The committee also urged the Vatican to amend its canon law to identify
circumstances where access to abortion can be permitted for children, such
as to save the life of a young mother. It urged the Holy See to ensure that
sexual education, including access to information about contraception and
preventing HIV, is mandatory in Catholic schools. It called for the Holy See
to use its moral authority to condemn discrimination against homosexual
children or children raised by homosexual couples.

The Vatican said it would study the report and in a statement reiterated its
commitment to defending and protecting children's rights that are enshrined
in the treaty. But it took issue with the committee's recommendations to
change core Church teaching on life.

"The Holy See does, however, regret 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," the
Vatican said.

(...)

==========================

Here is Bill Donahue's comment:

DEMAGOGIC U.N. REPORT ON VATICAN

February 5, 2014 - By Bill Donohue

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has just released a report on the way the Vatican has responded to the sexual abuse of minors by priests.

The 15-page report contains not a single footnote, endnote, or any other mode of attribution.

But it does provide plenty of evidence as to its real agenda.

The U.N. panel is using the sexual abuse of minors as a pretext for its true objective: it wants the Vatican to submit to its authority, and not just in instances involving international law—it wants the Catholic Church to change Canon Law and to adopt a secular sexual ethics.

As such, it is one of the most ambitious power-grab efforts ever undertaken by a U.N. committee.

The panel is also profoundly ignorant of the data.

On p. 3 of the report, the panel says the Holy See should “undertake the necessary steps to withdraw all its reservations and to ensure the [U.N.] Convention’s precedence over internal laws and regulations.” (Its emphasis.) It is quite explicit: “The Committee recommends that the Holy See undertake a comprehensive review of its normative framework, in particular Canon Law, with a view to ensuring its full compliance with the Convention.”

In other words, the teaching body of the Catholic Church, the Magisterium, i.e., the pope in communion with the bishops, should yield to the U.N.

This would be the equivalent of asking the United States Congress to make sure its laws are in compliance with U.N. strictures.

Hubris is too mild a word to describe this unmitigated arrogance.

On pp. 12-13, the panel says it wants the Catholic Church to change its teachings on abortion and contraception; it also says the Church needs to do more about HIV/AIDS.

It is painfully obvious that these panelists have not thought through this issue. To wit: if everyone followed the Church’s teachings on sexuality, we would not have this problem in the first place. To be exact, those who acquire HIV/AIDS typically do so because they live a reckless life, in sharp contradistinction to the Church’s plea for restraint.

The panel is so intent on policing the Church that it demands a Canon Law change in the use of the term “illegitimate children.”

It also directs the Vatican to order Catholic schools to change its textbooks, getting rid of alleged “gender stereotypes.”

Not only is this another example of its abuse of power, the panel provides not a single piece of evidence to buttress its claim.

Someone should also tell these experts that the Vatican does not tell Catholic schools what textbooks, or curricula, it should adopt. But to control freaks, delegation is a difficult concept to grasp.

The panel lectures the Vatican on the need for “awareness programs,” urging “systematic training” for those who work with minors. Just who do they think started these initiatives?

We’re not the ones who lack mandatory training programs—the guilty parties are found in other religious communities, and in the public schools. This explains why sexual abuse is not a problem in Catholic communities today the way it is elsewhere.

The panel needs to get up to speed, assuming it has any real interest in this issue.

On p. 8, the panel instructs the Vatican to end corporal punishment, saying it must amend “both Canon Law and Vatican City State laws.” Ironically, the U.N. has now detailed how 10,000 Syrian children have been killed and tortured in the last three years.

Syrian kids are being raped and beaten “with metal cabals, whips and wooden and metal batons”; they are also being subjected to “electric shocks, including to the genitals.” Their fingernails and toenails are being ripped out of them, and they are being lacerated with cigarette burns.

Most of these barbaric acts are being conducted by government agents, yet there is no demand that Syrian officials yield to the U.N. It is too busy wondering if Sister Mary Alice is taking a ruler to a miscreant student.

The one attempt at providing evidence is a colossal failure: on p. 7 it cites the Magdalene Laundries as an institution that forced girls “to work in slavery like conditions and were often subject to inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment as well as to physical and sexual abuse.”

This is a bald-face lie: the McAleese Report, an investigation authorized by the Irish government, shows that none of this is true.

To read my analysis, “Myths of the Magdalene Laundries,” see the “Special Reports” section on the Catholic League website.

The panel’s report is libelous.

Finally, the report says the Church needs to end the practice of “baby boxes.” In many countries, there are drop boxes next to orphanages; they are placed there to entice girls who are pregnant out-of-wedlock, and who cannot care for their babies, to allow others to raise their child. It is a humane practice, one that is widely practiced in South Korea.

What is not humane is to kill babies in utero, which is precisely what this U.N. panel recommends.

For sheer demagoguery, this report cannot be beaten. It is as malicious as it is inaccurate.

[End -- Donahue comment]

===============

Quotation

"You live in a deranged age, more deranged that usual, because, in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing." —Walker Percy (1916-1990), American Catholic convert and writer, author of The Message in the Bottle and Lost in the Cosmos (Note: I visited Percy in Louisiana in 1977 after writing my college thesis on his work)

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Permalink Reply by Michael on February 5, 2014 at 7:36pm

It is an absolute attempt at a power grab. The UN wants to be arbiter of what is moral an just and help usher in a one world body. In order to do so, it has to denigrate the one true Church. It doesn't matter if the report is factual or not, the press will carry it and spread it, and most people will accept it without any further investigation.

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Permalink Reply by Dawn Marie on February 6, 2014 at 6:00am

I'll give it a few days but something tells me Francis isn't going to fight them on this.

To me this is the start of the Church going underground and the good being martyred. We do not have a pope who will fight the evil.

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Permalink Reply by Dawn Marie on February 6, 2014 at 5:46pm

European Parliament votes in favour of pro-gay agenda

by Catholic4Life

Today (4th February), the European Parliament (EP) adopted the Lunacek Report, officially known as a report on "The EU Roadmap against homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Because of your effort, we can safely attest that theMembers of European Parliament (MEP) who voted in favor of the report did so against the wishes of the people. In total, nearly 210,000 people signed a petition on CitizenGO against the Lunacek Report. You should be very proud of your effort! The opposition against the Lunacek Report was the single greatest demonstration against an EP report.

The opposition to the Lunacek Report was a real movement created and driven by the people of Europe.CitizenGO was not the only group that gave European citizens a voice to oppose this report:

40,000 citizens from Spain signed a petition created by HazteOir.org. This petition was delivered directly to MEPs.
Many Pro-Family organizations throughout Europe offered constituent services.
On 2 February, Hundreds of Thousands gathered in various European cities united in peaceful demonstration against the Lunacek Report.
There were mass letter writing campaigns to MEPs.
Countless phone calls made directly to MEPs.

It is safe to say that over 1 million European citizens spoke out in opposition of the Lunacek Report.

So, what went wrong?

Each MEP holds the responsibility of reporting to Brussels andvoting as a representation to the wishes of their constituency. On 4 February, this body did not do so. To their advantage, the LGBT lobby has a full functioning wing inside the EP. This wing consists of elected MEPs, EP employees, and paid activists that are ready to fight in favor of the lobby. Prime examples of the influence created by this wing are the activities surrounding the Lunacek Report.

In response to our petition, we heard from various MEPs that identified themselves as either in favor or against the Lunacek Report. Many MEPs or EP employees reported that there were very few communications received from citizens in favor of the Lunacek Report. We know for certain that around 1 million citizens spoke out against the Lunacek Report, and very few contacted their MEP in favor.

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Permalink Reply by Michael on February 20, 2014 at 11:24pm

Thursday, 20 February 2014 10:42

UN vs. Vatican

Written by Eric Egan

On January 16, 2014 the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child interrogated the Apostolic Nuncio (an ambassador of the Vatican) to the United Nations in Geneva, Monsignor Silvano Tomasi. Various news outlets referred to the committee proceedings as a “grilling” of H.E. (His Eminence) Tomasi concerning the Catholic Church's progress with stemming sexual abuse of children by pedophile priests. The purpose of the meeting was to ascertain how compliant the Holy See has been with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which the Holy See is a signatory.

The UN Committee released a report on January 31 detailing the committee's findings from the January 16 inquiry. The report focused partly on the Church's well-publicized issues with sex abuse of minors by priests, but also dealt with subjects concerning everything from contraception to the use of “baby boxes” by Catholic organizations.

The UN would prefer that the Catholic Church provide and promote abortion, which is against Catholic teaching, as an alternative to the aforementioned “baby boxes” referenced in article 35 of the report, which are a blame-free mechanism for mothers to ensure care for their children. These boxes, where a mother who isn't able to care for her child may anonymously leave the baby, go against article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that a child has a right to know and be raised by the child's parents. The UN sees abortion as an alternative to the baby boxes. In article 55 of the report, “The Committee urges the Holy See to review its position on abortion ... with a view to identifying circumstances under which access to abortion services can be permitted.” It is safe to assume that the Committee knows this is impossible for the Holy See to do without ceasing to be Catholic.

Also at issue in the report is the Holy See's emphasis on the complementarity of the sexes and use of “gender stereotypes.” These issues are addressed in article 27 using the terms “boys” and “girls”:

The Committee regrets that the Holy See continues to place emphasis on the promotion of complementarity and equality in dignity.... The Committee also regrets that the Holy See did not provide precise information on the measures taken to promote equality between girls and boys and to remove gender stereotypes from Catholic schools textbooks.

The report emphasizes the need for and lack of equality between “girls and boys"; however, in article 57 (f) the report urges the Holy See to educate boys and men “in particular” about “responsible parenthood and sexual behaviour.”

There is, overall, very little church teaching concerning sexual morality that is not touched upon in the report with a suggestion that it be changed. In article 56 the committee urges the church to change her stance on contraception; in article 57(a) the committee strongly insinuates that the church allow and encourage premarital sex among teens; and the church's teaching on homosexuality is taken to task in article 25, among others.

The Catholic Church's views on sex were not the only teachings taken to task by the committee, however. The church also holds a different view from the committee on the role of parents, whom the church holds responsible for educating their children in the way the parents see fit. In article 31 “The Committee is concerned that the Holy See restrictively interprets children’s right to express their views in all matters affecting them, as well as their rights to freedom of expression, association and religion.”

There are myriad other "the-Committee-is-concerneds" throughout the report, including constructive criticism on the handling of sex abuse by priests. These concerns are mostly with a view to change church teaching, however.

Of course, none of the aforementioned disagreements was lost on the Holy See and, as LifesiteNews reported on February 10, there was some exchange of rhetorical blows after the report was issued. Both Tomasi and Fr. Frederico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, issued statements decrying the report's apparent bias. Lombardi took the committee to task for a “lack of understanding of the specific nature of the Holy See” and both men insinuated that the report may have been written prior to the Holy See's presentation to the committee. Lombardi remained diplomatic, however, and chalked it up to “different visions” in the “vast world of the UN.” The committee issued a response which seemed to be a mere diplomatic nicety for its brevity and evasive nature.

The UN is currently dealing with its own sex abuse scandals and human rights violations, perpetrated by UN “peacekeepers,” on far grander scales than those of the Holy See. These scandals are repetitive occurrences, suggesting an endemic incapability of dealing with these issues on an organizational level. This colors the whole context of the committee's report on the Holy See and their criticisms of the Catholic Church's handling of sex abuse as odd and ironic. The UN giving advice on how an organization should deal with sex abuse of minors feels a little like listening to a child molester pontificate on the best way to run a daycare.

Photos of Chairperson of the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child Kirsten Sandberg and Pope Francis: AP Images