When I have blogged in recent months about the changing tone and focus of the Vatican under the servant leadership of Pope Francis a number of you have said, essentially, "what about sexual abuse?" or "I'm reserving judgment until I see a greater level of accountability." Fair enough.
This is a key point in Francis' papacy as the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child investigates the horrendous history of abuse by those in positions of trust within the Roman Catholic church around the world. We have all been angered and dismayed by how widespread the abuse, along with the efforts to cover it up.
The hearing came as Pope Francis said all Catholics should feel "shame," in an apparent reference to the scandals that have rocked the Church for more than a decade.Under the spotlight at the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, the Vatican delegation insisted it understood what it had to do to root out sexual crimes."The Holy See gets it, that certain things have to be done differently," said Monsignor Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's former top prosecutor.
"It's not words, it has to be commitment on the ground, on the level of the local churches," he told the committee...The Roman Catholic Church has faced a cascade of scandals involving child sexual abuse by priests and Catholic lay officials, from Ireland to the United States and from Australia to Germany.Pope Francis, who has vowed zero tolerance of abuse since he was elected last March, said the scandals "are the shame of the Church.""Do we feel shame? There are so many scandals that I do not want to name them individually but everyone knows about them!" the pope said in a homily on Thursday.Like other signatories of the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Vatican agrees to submit regular reports on its respect for the rules, and to be scrutinised by an 18-member watchdog panel.
We all need to pray for the outcome of this review, for the sake of the victims, for the cause of justice, and for the future of the Roman Catholic church.
Thoughts?
It's enlightening to see who has signed on to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. Canada, along with other nations, signed on with some reservations (I haven't investigated the full implications of that). However, two notable exceptions have signed but not ratified, according to a UN website. Somalia (that stalwart pillar of human rights) and, believe this or not, the good ol' US of A. Amazing.
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