UN too had denounced Vatican for allowing priests to abuse children

United Nations, Feb 7: When Pope Francis Wednesday accepted the fact that Bishops and priests had been molesting the nuns and children in the churches, he only endorsed the United Nations 2014 report that held the Vatican responsible for the tens of thousands of cases of rape and sexual abuse of children.

The 2014 UN report denounced the Vatican for allowing priests to rape children and demanded that the Vatican “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers.

The report published by the UN Committee on the Rights of a Child in 2014 had alleged that the Vatican had “systematically placed preservation of the reputation of the Church and the alleged offender over the protection of child victims”.

The UN report had said the Holy See should also hand over its archives on sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children so that culprits, as well as “those who concealed their crimes”, could be held accountable.

This report considered as the most exceptionally blunt paper and a strong critique of the church hierarchy by the UN came after the grilling of the Vatican officials by the committee. It stated: “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.”

“Well-known child sexual abusers have been transferred from parish to parish or to other countries in an attempt to cover-up such crimes," the report said.

It later added: “Due to a code of silence imposed on all members of the clergy under penalty of excommunication, cases of child sexual abuse have hardly ever been reported to the law enforcement authorities in the countries where such crimes occurred.”

The UN report also denounced the Holy See for its attitudes toward homosexuality, contraception and abortion.

Responding to this most devastating report the Vatican had then issued a statement on its website and described the report as an “attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching”.

The Vatican had said it would examine the report thoroughly and reiterated its commitment to defending and protecting child rights in accordance with the U.N. guidelines and “the moral and religious values offered by Catholic doctrine.”

In India also the case related to rape of a nun by the Bishop of Jalandhar and the subsequent events leading to safeguard the perpetrator Bishop and shun the protesting nuns further corroborate the facts stated by the UN report.