by Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Appearing before a U.N. committee monitoring adherence to an international treaty designed to fight torture, Vatican officials repeatedly were asked about efforts to investigate allegations of clerical sexual abuse, punish offenders and cooperate with civil authorities in prosecuting the perpetrators.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, led the Vatican delegation at a hearing of the Committee Against Torture, which monitors the implementation of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.

The cases of clerical sexual abuse of children are a reality which the Catholic Church wishes never happened, he said, but “human nature being what it is, they did happen.”

What is most important now, he said, is that “there has been in several documentable areas a stabilization and even a decline in cases” of abuse of minors. “Measures undertaken in the last 10 years on the part both of the Holy See and local churches are bringing about a positive result.”

In his opening remarks to the committee, Archbishop Tomasi told members that the Holy See, which signed the treaty, has no direct legal and juridical jurisdiction outside Vatican City State. While it hopes to exercise moral influence over all Catholics, “persons who live in a particular country are under the jurisdiction of the legitimate authorities of that country and are thus subject to the domestic law and the consequences contained therein.”

Holy See’s Jurisdiction

Several of the questions committee members posed to Archbishop Tomasi and the Vatican delegation focused on the extent of the Holy See’s jurisdiction; the committee wanted to know, for instance, if all employees of the Roman Curia and all Vatican diplomatic personnel serving abroad are considered subject to Vatican City State’s laws against torture and inhuman and degrading treatment.

Felice Gaer, vice chair of the U.N. committee, asked about specific provisions of the Holy See’s treaties with Italy and Austria, which some people have claimed make it difficult for local police to investigate, document and prosecute claims of sexual abuse involving clergy.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the Vatican recognized that the U.N. treaty monitoring committees were able to interpret the texts of the treaties and to include issues they believed should be treated in line with its principles. However, he also expressed hope that “ideological pressure” would not be exerted to manipulate the Vatican’s appearance before the Committee, turning it into a hearing about the clerical sex abuse scandal.