'No excuse' for child abuse, Vatican admits at UN hearing

The Vatican has acknowledged that there can be “no excuse” for child abuse, confronted for the first time at length and in public over the global priest sex abuse scandal.

At a UN hearing, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s representative in Geneva, Switzerland, said “such crimes can never be justified”, whether committed at home, school, sports activities or in religious organisations and structures.

The Archbishop told a UN committee that the Holy See welcomes any suggestions which could help it in promoting and encouraging the respect of the rights of the child.

He was speaking at the beginning of a hearing at which the Vatican is being challenged over allegations that it enabled the rape of thousands of children by protecting paedophile priests and its own reputation at the expense of victims.