Catholic Church Slammed At UN Over Sex-Abuse Handling

[rug]

AP | By John Heilprin
Posted: 01/16/2014 8:50 am EST | Updated: 01/16/2014 8:58 am EST

GENEVA (AP) - The Vatican came under blistering criticism from a U.N. committee Thursday for its handling of the global priest sex abuse scandal, facing its most intense public grilling to date over allegations that it protected pedophile priests at the expense of victims.

The Vatican insisted it had little jurisdiction to sanction pedophile priests around the globe, saying it was for local law enforcement to do so. But officials conceded that it needs to do more, given the scale of the problem and the role the Holy See plays in the international community.

"The Holy See gets it," Monsignor Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's former sex crimes prosecutor, told the committee. "Let's not say too late or not. But there are certain things that need to be done differently."

He was responding to a grilling by the U.N. committee over the Holy See's failure to abide by terms of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child which, among other things, ca lls for signatories to take all appropriate measures to keep children from harm. Critics allege the church enabled the rape of thousands of children by encouraging a culture of cover-up to defend its reputation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/16/catholic-church-sex-abuse-un_n_4609246.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

1. This rings a bit hollow

The Vatican insisted it had little jurisdiction to sanction pedophile priests around the globe, saying it was for local law enforcement to do so.

Given that the necessary information was systematically being kept from local law enforcement, that is not an honest response.

[rug]

2. It does. It's a lawyer's argument.

While technically correct, it's not the right answer.