Archbishop Paul Cremona and Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna will not comment on the UN committee’s report. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

The Maltese bishops have refused to give their views on the conclusions of a UN report about the way the Vatican handled clerical sexual abuse cases.

Archbishop Paul Cremona and Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna both refused to comment, saying the Vatican had already said the observations will be subjected to a “thorough study and examination”.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child demanded that the Vatican turns in known or suspected paedophile priests to the law enforcement authorities of their respective countries.

Its report also asked the Holy See to hand over all the documents it possessed on sexual abuse on “tens of thousands” of children so the culprits and those who concealed the crimes are held accountable.

“Archbishop Cremona and Bishop Scicluna will not be commenting about this report since the observations of the UN committee are in reaction to a report of the Holy See.

“Your questions should be directed to the Holy See Press Office,” a spokesman for the Maltese Archdiocese told Times of Malta yesterday.

He added: “On a diocesan level, the Church in Malta remains committed to an effective child protection policy.”

The UN committee urged the Holy See to “provide compensation to victims of sexual abuse committed by individuals and institutions under the Holy See’s authority without imposing any obligation of confidentiality on the victims and establish a compensation scheme for victims in this respect”.

Eleven Maltese men who were sexually abused by two now-defrocked priests while under their care more than two decades ago are fighting a legal battle for compensation.

When contacted, sources close to the Vatican told Times of Malta yesterday that the report was “unfair” and “biased” against the Catholic Church.

They will not be commenting since the observations of the UN committee are in reaction to a report of the Holy See

Moreover, the sources said the Vatican could never accept a report by a UN watchdog on children’s rights, which calls on the Church to change its position on abortion.

“We either want to protect children or not. The UN has to decide. It cannot first say it was all out to protect children’s rights and then say the Holy See should review its position on abortion,” they said.

The UN committee was referring to the case of a nine-year-old girl in Brazil who had an emergency, life-saving, abortion in 2009 after having been raped by her stepfather.

When this case came out, the Archbishop of Pernambuco excommunicated the girl’s mother and the doctor who performed the abortion, a move later approved by the head of the Roman Cath-olic Church’s Congregation of Bishops.

The UN watchdog expressed its “deepest concern” on the Church’s position and urged the Holy See to review it.

“The committee urges the Holy See to review its position on abortion which places obvious risks on the life and health of pregnant girls and to amend Canon 1398 relating to abortion with a view to identifying circumstances under which access to abortion services can be permitted,” it said.

Sources said it was precisely this part that prompted the Vatican to react to the report, saying that it viewed some points as “an attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of the human person and in the exercise of religious freedom”.

The UN committee also criticised Church authorities over their stand on contraception.

Online petition in defence of Holy See

Almost 35,000 people from all around the world have signed an online petition doing the rounds on social media calling on “Catholics, Evangelicals, and all people of goodwill” to defend the Holy See from a “renewed attack by powerful forces that intend to silence the voice of the Vatican at the United Nations”.

The petition at http://defendtheholysee.org is seeking support against forces wanting the Vatican out of the UN. The Vatican has the status of an Observer State, which allows it to negotiate documents.

In this capacity, it has used its voice to prevent the introduction of a right to abortion and defend human life and the family.

“Their goal is to silence the moral voice of the UN. The stakes could not be any higher.

“If the Vatican is kicked out of the UN, abortion could become a universal human right, marriage between one man and one woman could be redefined out of existence and UN-style population control would be imposed on families across the globe,” says the petition.