ROME: In Rome yesterday a Co Wexford solicitor promised to hold the Vatican accountable for the late Father Seán Fortune.
Simon Kennedy of New Ross told a news conference: "I have come to tell the Pope that this case is not going away. I am not going away and my client is not going away. All the clever arguments in law to avoid accountability may be used, but sooner or later someone will account.
"The Holy See was aware of these matters before Seán Fortune was ordained and we know that you (the Pope) know that. It was wrong to give him the power to do what he did. It was worse when others were injured and you still did nothing. Far worse yet, was to accept the resignation of (Bishop) Brendan Comiskey as if in some way that puts an end to matters."
Mr Kennedy was speaking at the news conference during which the US-based, non-governmental organisation, "Catholics for a Free Choice", presented a report: "The Holy See and the Convention on the Rights of the Child."
Mr Kennedy's remarks relate to Father Fortune, the diocese of Ferns-based priest who committed suicide three years ago when facing 29 charges of sexual abuse. Mr Kennedy, who has instituted civil proceedings on behalf of some of the victims, will today form part of an international delegation of lawyers, sociologists, historians and sex-abuse victims, who will present their "shadow report" to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva.
The bottom line in this report is both simple and daunting. Put simply, it urges the UN to add its prestige to "the serious task of calling the Holy See to account for perpetrating and perpetuating this ( child sex abuse) crisis".
Put even more simply, the delegation has "little confidence that the Vatican will adequately respond to the enormous worldwide child sex abuse crisis within the Catholic Church". Lest there be any doubt about the "worldwide" nature of that crisis, the report points out that since 1995 more than 5,000 cases of child abuse by Catholic clergy have been reported in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Britain and the US.
The report challenges the view, often expressed by senior Curia figures, that the problem is largely confined to the US. It furthermore rejects the argument that the problem is the result of progressive thinking in the church and could be countered by priestly adherence to a more conservative church line.
The report is strong in its condemnation of the church's handling of sexually abusive priests, commenting: "The Holy See and its representatives have decided in case after case that the common good is better served by protecting a cleric's "reputation" than by preventing future risk of child abuse".
Lamenting that "there is no policy from the Holy See excluding child-abusing clergy from working in schools", the report calls on the Holy See to live up to the words pronounced by the Pope to the US cardinals last April and "apologise to the world for the tragic child sexual abuse by its priests and for the lack of oversight and protection of children by its leaders".
Calling on the church to invoke the full weight of existing canon law against offender priests, the report also urges the Holy See to rescind "its requirements of secrecy in these cases" and to guarantee "procedural integrity in internal judicial and non-judicial processes".
For Mr Kennedy, this means making available all diocesan files on Father Fortune: "I await with interest to know whether or not we are going to be given access to the many files (about Father Fortune) that the Bishop of Ferns sent to the Vatican."
Summing up the purpose of today's meeting at the 31st session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, Francis Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice, said: "We would like the UN to censure the Vatican in just the same way that it censures China or Cuba or any other country for violations of international human rights. The reality is that the Vatican and the bishops still don't get it, they're still primarily concerned about protecting the institution of the church, whereas the Pope should be listening and offering his personal apologies to victims. Bishops and cardinals have been involved in a whole cover-up in a way that is evil."
Concluding his presentation, Mr Kennedy renewed his promise to stick to his task of making the Holy See accountable, saying: "I am a little-known man from a little-known town acting for little-known people. However, we are not going away."