UN panel confronts Vatican on child sex abuse by clergy, Saratoga Springs Child Abuse Examiner Judy Byington

Vatican tells UN hearing 'no excuse' for child abuse
Vatican has acknowledged there can be "no excuse" for child abuse, confronted for the first time at length and in public over the global priest sex abuse scandal

By Nick Squires
16 Jan 2014

Victims of clerical abuse accused the Vatican of obfuscating and using “disingenous” arguments as representatives on Thursday came in for unprecedented public questioning by the United Nations over the Catholic Church’s cover-up of the rape of thousands of children by sexually abusive priests.

In testimony to a UN committee in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s representative, showed a degree of remorse over church sex abuse scandals, saying that “such crimes can never be justified”.

But he reiterated an argument that the Vatican has long used — that the Holy See cannot be held responsible for the actions of clergy members in countries around the world because its remit extends only to those living and working within the Vatican City State, a tiny sovereign territory where less than 40 children reside.

Priests were “not functionaries of the Vatican but citizens of their countries and fall under the jurisdiction of their own countries”, he said.

The argument was dismissed by campaigners, who said it was clear that the Vatican is the hub of the world-wide Catholic Church and issues orders to dioceses around the globe....

The Vatican has been condemned for moving abusive clergy from one diocese or parish to another, destroying or withholding evidence and failing to report suspected abuse to the police.

“The new Pope seems to be making encouraging gestures in a lot of areas, but he’s doing nothing to even begin to expose — much less reverse —decades of selfish church cover-ups that endanger kids and protect predators. It’s very disappointing. What we heard today felt like more of the same,” Ms Blaine said. 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/10576203/Vatican-tells-UN-hearing-no-excuse-for-child-abuse.html


UN panel confronts Vatican on child sex abuse by clergy 
16 January 2014
....The Vatican has been confronted publicly for the first time over the sexual abuse of children by clergy, at a UN hearing in Geneva.

....Last month, the Vatican refused a request from the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) for data on abuse, on the grounds that it only released such information if requested to do so by another country as part of legal proceedings.

...."The view of committee is that the best way to prevent abuses is to reveal old ones - openness instead of sweeping offences under the carpet," Kirsten Sandberg, chairwoman of the 18-strong CRC, told the Vatican delegation.

"It seems to date your procedures are not very transparent."

The Vatican was asked why it continued to describe abuse as an offence against morals rather than a crime against children.

....Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said: "To prevent abuse of minors is a real, immediate concern."

On prosecution of offenders, he said priests were "not functionaries of the Vatican but citizens of their countries and fall under the jurisdiction of their own countries"....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25748952


Saratoga Springs Child Abuse Examiner Judy Byington
Judy Byington, MSW, LCSW, ret, Author, "Twenty-Two Faces: Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities"; CEO Trauma Research Center and Child Abuse Recovery Speakers Bureau; Supervisor over Children Services, Alberta Mental Health; Director, Provo Utah Family Counseling Center; State of Utah Child Welfare: http://www.22faces.com  and http://www.ChildAbuseRecovery.com 
http://www.examiner.com/child-abuse-in-provo/judy-byington