> By John Tomasic 10/1/09 5:04 PM
> The Colorado Independent News

> Wednesday in Geneva, Vatican representative to the United Nations
> Archbishop Silvano Tomasi defended the Church against accusations of
> irresponsibility in the face of child sexual abuse. But in his
> passionate defense, Tomasi alarmed observers by reading an official
> statement that claimed up to 5 percent of the Catholic clergy
> worldwide had been linked to sexual abuse and that this was primarily
> the result of homosexual attraction not pedophilia.

> “Available research,” he said, showed that “only 1.5 percent to 5
> percent” of Catholic clergy were involved in abuse and that it would
> “be more correct” to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to
> adolescent males, rather than pedophilia as the cause.

> “Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90 percent belong to
> this sexual orientation minority, which is sexually engaged with
> adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17.”

> It’s unclear what “available research” the Vatican was citing. Outside
> the Church, it has been suggested that girls are more often the victim
> of abuse than boys, at a ratio of roughly 4 to 1. Why that ratio would
> be reverse and lopsided in the Church is difficult to figure.

> There are roughly 550,000 Catholic priests, deacons, brothers serving
> the Church around the world. Tomasi’s 5 percent would put the number
> of clergy linked to abuse at roughly 27,500.

> The British Guardian reports that the Vatican defense came after a
> representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, Keith
> Porteous Wood, accused the Church of covering up child abuse and being
> in breach of several articles of the Convention on the Rights of the
> Child.

>     Porteous Wood said the Holy See had not contradicted any of his
> accusations.

>     “The many thousands of victims of abuse deserve the international
> community to hold the Vatican to account, something it has been
> unwilling to do, so far. Both states and children’s organisations must
> unite to pressurise the Vatican to open its files, change its
> procedures worldwide, and report suspected abusers to civil
> authorities.

>     The IHEU criticised the Holy See over its role in covering up the
> scale of child abuse by its priests and religious orders, and for
> failing to honour its obligations under international law (http://
> www.iheu.org/un-publishes-iheu-statement… holy-see).

>     The [IHEU] statement addressed the role of the Holy See in
> attempting to cover up the extent of child abuse perpetrated by its
> priests and religious orders…
>     The reply argued that the Church was not unique in having clergy
> who sexually abused children and young people… Our point was not the
> abuse itself but the cover up.

>     The Holy See is a sovereign state and its senior clergy, safely
> ensconced in the Vatican out of reach of civil law, are answerable to
> no earthly power other than themselves – and to the few international
> treaties to which they are party. One such is the International
> Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Holy See is in massive
> breach of its obligations under that convention.

>     Commenting on the [Vatican] response, IHEU Main Representative in
> Geneva, Roy Brown, said: “By failing to address this issue while
> seeking to point the finger of blame elsewhere, the Holy See’ has
> scored a spectacular own goal. One senior UN official described their
> reply as ‘a disgrace’. We agree.”