Pope Francis Called To Action Against Guilty Priests By U.N. Committee

The United Nations Human Rights Committee which has already asked guilty priests to be removed from their positions is now putting pressure on Pope Francis to take action against the nearly 400 priests who have sexual abused children, moving them from parish to parish in order to keep the secret concealed, the Associated Press reported.

"The committee expresses serious concern that in dealing with child victims of different forms of abuse, the Holy See has systematically placed preservation of the reputation of the church and the alleged offender over the protection of child victims," the report filed by the Committee stated, according to the AP.

Shortly after the U.N. said the Vatican was choosing to keep their members out of the spotlight instead of enforcing penalties and preventing future child abuse cases the committee demanded all the priests guilty of sexual abusing children be stripped of their role, and accused the Vatican of "harboring criminal" for not turning them into the authorities already, the AP reported.

The committee also asked the Vatican to remove the priests who were involved in case from their current positions but no comment about what repercussions, if any, would be handed out to the guilty priests, according to the AP. The report also called for all future child abuse cases be reported to authorities.

"The committee is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by, and the impunity of, the perpetrators," the panel said in the report, according to the AP.

In December, the Vatican said Pope Francis would create a commission in order to study past cases and prevent future incidents from occurring, but there has been no reports such a committee exists until now," the AP reported

The harsh words used by the Committee in the report caused the Vatican to speak out in order to clean up some of the damage done to the Vatican's reputation, the AP reported.

"I'm tempted to say that the text was probably written ahead of time," Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's U.N. ambassador, said in a statement shortly after the U.N. committee said the Vatican is still "harboring criminals" in their report, according to the AP

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