Vatican Puts Rogue U.N. Committee In Its Place

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D. | May 23, 2014

The Vatican highlighted positive aspects U.N. report from a committee that says the Pope is responsible for the conduct of every clergyman in the world.

In a press release issued this morning in response to the publication of the concluding observations of the committee against torture the Vatican was magnanimous. Archibishop Tomasi, who represents the Holy See in Geneva had a similar approach in comments to John Allen of the Boston Globe. But a full communique from the Vatican has some choice words for the committee, basically telling the committee: thanks for your suggestions, we disagree with you, and we don’t think you even have the authority to say what you have said, but thank you.

Make no mistake, the committee’s observations on the the Holy See’s compliance with the convention against torture are disingenuous and even facetious. The committee did everything it could to put the Holy See in a negative light, short of saying that it had violated the convention against torture.

Right from the start the observations reject the limited scope of the Pope’s jurisdiction, saying that the Pope is responsible for the actions of every priest under his “effective control.” The committee is alluding to the fact that every catholic priest swears fielty to the Pope, without saying as much. But the committee is willfully overlooking the fact that once outside the walls of the Vatican City State the Pope has no compulsory jurisdiction over anyone. Only countries where priests reside and operate have criminal and civil jurisdiction over those priests. Outside the Vatican the Pope can only exercise control in spiritual matters involving clergy and lay persons. This is a voluntary and spiritual jurisdiction.

This simple fact, also known as the separation of Church and State is lost on the U.N.  “experts” because it would deprive them of an avenue to attack the Church. The committee is trying to paint the separation of Church and State as a dishonest attempt by the Holy See to avoid liability. Aside from the fact that the Holy See has never sought to avoid liability on this issue, it is the committee who is being duplicitous here. 

The committee ignored many of the answers provided by Tomasi earlier this month during a two day interrogation in Geneva and even meddles with Canon Law. And even suggested the right canonical penalties for priests who are found guilty of sex abuse.

As I said in First Things last week this whole charade was a political attack and had nothing to do with human rights. It is not even just about Church-State relations. It is about the Holy See’s moral stance on abortion, contraception and homosexuality. U.N. committee experts and U.N. bureaucrats are actively working to undermine the moral position of the Holy See, and they are resurrecting the child abuse sex scandal that rocked the Catholic Church a decade ago to do just that.

This was a cheap shot and will do nothing to bolster human rights for anyone. If anything, it further undermines the U.N. committee and the convention against torture.

On a positive note, the concluding observations say nothing about abortion. The committee needs to show more of this kind of restraint in the future if it wants to help promote human rights.

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