Vatican: Important clarifications to UN Committee on the Convention Against Torture
(Vatican Radio/CNS) The Holy See representative to Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi
has told the UN Committee on the Convention Against Torture (CAT) that the Holy See
is making “every effort” to combat the “plague and scourge” of child sexual abuse
and “condemns torture, including for those who are tortured and killed before they
are born”.
The Archbishop was speaking Tuesday, in a second day of hearings
before the Committee which monitors the application of the U.N. Convention Against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, among signatory states. The
Holy See signed the international treaty in 2002 and submitted its first report on
adherence to the treaty in 2012.
Listen to excerpts from Arcbishiop
Tomasi's intervention:
Speaking
to Vatican Radio at the concluding of the hearing Abp. Tomasi described the experience
as “constructive” and added that it allowed the Holy See to make “important clarifications”.
During the hearing – which was streamed live on the internet – the Archbishop responded
to the Committees’ queries from their reading of the Holy See report, regarding the
handling of the scandal of child sexual abuse by clergy and the issue of the Holy
See jurisdiction.
He noted: “While the Holy See does not have the competency
or the ability to initiate criminal proceedings against crimes that are committed
in territories outside Vatican City State, it makes every effort to conduct ecclesiastical
proceedings against clerics against whom credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors
have been presented. This is done without substitution for or prejudices of other
processes that are to be applied by the competent judiciary system in the state in
which the accused person resides. Civil law regarding the reporting of the crime
to the authorities should always be followed”.
The Archbishop went on to outline
the process and procedures in ecclesiastical proceedings and pointed to Pope Francis
establishment of a Commission for the Protection of Children as a further effort to
safeguard minors in the Church.Responding to a specific request by the Committee,
Archbishop Tomasi also provided statistics about cases of clerical sexual abuse reported
to the Vatican and the outcome of those cases.
Between 2004 and 2013, the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- which is charged with investigating
abuse claims against clergy -- received "credible accusations" against 3,420 priests.
In the majority of cases, he said, the abuse was alleged to have occurred between
1950 and 1989. Many of those priests are or have been jailed by civil courts for their
crimes, he said.
Between 2004 and 2013, he said, the Holy See dismissed
848 priests from the priesthood as a result of the allegations being found to be true.
In another 2,572 cases -- mainly involving priests of an advanced age -- the men were
ordered to have no contact with children and were ordered to retreat to a life of
prayer and penance.