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UN condemns Catholic Church for failing to stop priests abusing children

The United Nations has issued a scathing report into the way the Roman Catholic Church has dealt with tens of thousands of cases of sexual abuse by priests. In an exceptionally critical and blunt report, the UN watchdog for children's rights accuses the Vatican of not only failing to punish the offenders - but allowing them to carrying on abusing children. The Vatican has responded, saying it will study the UN鈥檚 findings, but it also said it regretted 鈥渁n attempt to interfere with Catholic Church teaching on the dignity of the human person鈥 [and] reiterates its commitment to defending and protecting the rights of the child鈥. Maria Herczog is a member of the UN committee. What exactly did the Vatican do wrong in handling these cases?

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5 minutes