Vatican was not ordered to appear before U.N. committee, says Vatican spokesman

April 16,2014: The Vatican's scheduled appearance in May before a United Nations committee monitoring adherence to an anti-torture treaty is being done willingly and not because church officials were ordered to appear for questioning, Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi told reporters on Tuesday that as a signatory of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Vatican promised to file periodic reports about its laws and efforts to fight torture. Vatican representatives. along with representatives of seven other States
are scheduled to review the periodic report with committee members May 5-6 in Geneva, Switzerland. "This is part of the ordinary procedures to which all state parties to the convention adhere," Father Lombardi said. "It is not that the Holy See was convoked in a way outside the normal procedures." In addition, he said, the treaty was signed in 2002 "in the name of Vatican City State -- not for the universal church -- because the convention has juridical characteristics" that apply to a geographical nation-state. The U.N. committee's questions to the Vatican representatives "must take into account the nature of the convention, its text and the fact that it regards Vatican City State," and not the worldwide church, he said.
Source: Sedoc/Cns