The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has for "detailed information on all cases of child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, brothers, or nuns" as part of a review of the Vatican's adherence to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Vatican has until January to compile the information, in time for a meeting of the UN committee, at which Vatican officials will be questioned.

The questions cover the steps the Holy See has taken to prevent accused clergy from having access to children, about bishops who have failed to report allegations to the police, about what investigations the Church has run and what compensation or counselling the Church has offered victims, and about the safeguarding measures the Church has put in place to prevent future abuse.

The request — the most wide-ranging probe the committee has ever initiated — makes specific mention of abuse within the Legion of Christ and Ireland's Magdalene laundries.

The questions are part of a periodic monitoring process which all nations that adhere to the Convention on the Rights of the Child must go through.

The request to the Holy See follows a meeting the committee had with representatives of the United States-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The Holy See's diplomatic mission in Geneva — where the committee is based - said it is ready to respond to the questions but warned against potential "exploitation" of the information it provides.

A statement by the Holy See in 2011, posted on the UN website in October 2012, reminded the committee of reservations on legal jurisdiction and other issues it made when it signed the global pact. It said any new "interpretation" would give the Holy See grounds "for terminating or withdrawing" from the treaty.

Sources:

BBC

Reuters

Vatican Insider

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The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child urged the US to "take all necessary measures to investigate all cases of sexual abuse of children whether single or on a massive and long-term scale, committed by clerics".

Religion News Service said the US Department of Justice did not return requests for comment, and the National Association of Attorneys General declined to comment. Abuse cases are typically handled by local and state prosecutors, not the federal government.

But David Clohessy, director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said efforts to deal with child-molesting clergy were "woefully inadequate".

"There has been and continues to be too cozy a relationship between religious and governmental figures," he said. "Other than a handful of local prosecutors, there's been almost no action at the state or federal level."

"If even a handful of bishops went to jail for enabling child sex crimes, we believe that would introduce massive reform," Clohessy said.

However, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the hierarchy does a "huge amount" in order to prevent sex abuse within the Church — much of it learned after the abuse scandal came to light.

"Every diocese is audited every year to see that every year that parishes have safe environment programmes," she said, "which include educating children so that they are aware of inappropriate contact by an adult, and are encouraged to report anything that makes them uncomfortable to a trusted adult."

Source:

Religion News Service

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