Vatican representatives have faced tough questions from a United Nations committee on the Catholic Church’s record of dealing with child sexual abuse by members of the clergy. Members of the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) have probed Vatican officials on why more had not been…
John Heilprin of the Associated Press played up how the Catholic Church supposedly “sought to limit its responsibility for the global priest sex abuse scandal” in front of a United Nations committee on torture. Heilprin repeatedly underlined how the Holy See underwent a “grilling” by…
Sunday morning, thousands – many of them young families — poured into St. Peter’ Square, having walked through Rome in an annual pro-life march. From a window above, Pope Francis thanked the ecumenical crowd for its commitment to speaking out to protect innocent human life. Today…
As the Holy See braces itself for another grilling from another United Nations committee, some prominent pro-life leaders are arguing the Church should withdraw from relevant conventions until it receives a fair hearing. Vatican officials are to appear before the U.N.’s Committee Against Torture Monday…
On Friday, my friend Ashley E. McGuire defended the Holy See Friday before a United Nations committee on torture on behalf of Catholic Voices USA (a group I help found). In an interview for National Review Online, we talk a bit about what’s going on…
During hearings that one participant described as “surreal,” United Nations representatives today suggested that the Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion in the case of rape and incest constitute a violation of the UN Charter Against Torture. The Vatican was called before a two-day hearing in…
Leaders of the Catholic Church face another public grilling over the global scandal of child sex abuse by priests, with a UN panel meeting in Geneva on Monday and Tuesday expected to examine the church’s record on preventing torture. This comes three months after another…
Vatican officials appeared Monday before the United Nations Committee on Torture to discuss the sexual abuse of children by priests, claiming the Holy See lacks juridical power to combat the problem on an international basis. “It should be stressed, particularly in light of much confusion,…
Insinuations at a U.N. committee hearing that Catholic teaching against abortion may violate an international anti-torture convention has raised questions about the partiality of the body. “It is outrageous that the U.N. Committee against Torture would challenge the Catholic Church’s religious commitment to the sanctity…
A U.N. committee on torture grilled the Vatican on the Catholic Church’s child sexual abuse crisis on Monday, urging a permanent investigation system to end a “climate of impunity” prevailing for decades. In a two-hour hearing in Geneva, the Committee Against Torture launched a barrage…
