NEW YORK – A second U.N. committee plans to question Vatican officials on its failures to stop clergy sex abuse.
The hearing scheduled for next month in Geneva will review whether the Vatican’s record on child protection violates the Convention Against Torture. The Holy See ratified the treaty in 2002.
Last January, another committee grilled Vatican officials on the scale of clergy sex abuse globally. That panel reviewed whether the Holy See had violated the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. The committee issued a scathing report, saying the church put its own interests above those of children. The Vatican said the findings reflected anti-Catholic prejudice.
The Center for Constitutional Rights submitted reports on behalf of victims to both committees urging closer U.N. scrutiny of the church record on child abuse.
