Vatican grilled on child abuse by UN watchdog

January 17, 2014 00:20

The Vatican was today pushed for the first time to provide answers to the UN over its commitment to stamp out child sex abuse by priests.

The landmark question-and-answer session before the UN's child rights watchdog in Geneva came as Pope Francis said Catholics should feel "shame", in an apparent reference to the scandals that have rocked the Church.

Francis has vowed zero tolerance of abuse, setting up a special committee to investigate sex crimes, enforce prevention and care for victims.

But top officials at the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child questioned the Vatican's resolve.

"The Holy See has not established any mechanism to investigate those accused of perpetrating sexual abuse, nor to prosecute them," charged committee member Sara Oviedo.

The Roman Catholic Church has been shaken by a decade-long cascade of scandals involving child abuse by priests and Catholic lay officials, from Ireland to the United States and Australia.

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