A United Nations human rights panel has posed a list of tough questions to the Vatican about child abuse by Catholic priests, a potential embarrassment for Pope Francis a few months into his papacy.
The
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) asked for “detailed
information on all cases of child sexual abuse committed by members of
the clergy, brothers or nuns” since the Holy See last reported to it
some 15 years ago, and set November 1st as a deadline for a reply.
The
request was included in a “list of issues”, posted on the CRC’s
website, to be taken up when the Vatican appears before it next January
to report on the Church’s performance under the 1990 UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child.
It will be the first time the Holy See has
been publicly questioned by an international panel over the child abuse
scandal which severely damaged the standing of the Roman Catholic Church in many countries around the world.
The
CRC has no enforcement powers, but a negative report after the hearing
would be a blow to the Church whose leader, Pope Francis, is striving to
put a number of scandals behind him since succeeding Benedict XVI who
resigned in February.
By issuing its questions,
the Geneva-based CRC brushed aside a Vatican warning that it might pull
out of the Convention on the Rights of the Child if pushed too hard on
the issue.
In a report of its own in late 2011,
posted on the UN website last October, the Holy See reminded the CRC of
reservations on legal jurisdiction and other issues it made when it
signed the global pact.
It said any new “interpretation” would give it grounds “for terminating or withdrawing” from the treaty.
In
its request for information, the CRC asked how the Vatican was ensuring
that abuser priests have no more contact with children and what
instructions it has issued to ensure that cases known to the Church are
reported to the police.
In several countries, including the United States and Ireland, the Church has been accused of simply moving suspect priests from one diocese to another, and of handling cases secretly.
The committee also asked if the Church had investigated the Magdalene Laundries
run by nuns in Ireland over several decades until they were closed in
1996, where former female inmates say they were treated as slaves.
There was no immediate comment from the Vatican.
Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of Britain’s National Secular Society who gave evidence to the committee in June, said he hoped for a new line from Pope Francis.
“He
has expressed the Catholic Church’s determination to act decisively
against pedophiles,” said Mr Wood. “This gives room for optimism that
these issues will at last be tackled. His papacy will be judged on his
success in doing so.”