Tagle: Sex abuse a global reality

NEWLY appointed Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, a rising star in the Catholic Church hierarchy, is expected to address a major international conference on Thursday about the particular challenges of dealing with the issue of child abuse in Asia.

A pre-conference press statement said Tagle’s speech would show “that sexual abuse inside and outside the Church is a global reality, not focused simply in the United States and Europe.”

“Careful consideration needs to be given to the cultural values that can foster greater transparency and cooperation as a universal Church that protects the most vulnerable,” the statement said.

The Vatican’s top prosecutor has warned that the Catholic Church in Asia is falling behind in the fight against pedophilia due to cultural differences over what constitutes child abuse.

“The problem is very accentuated in Asia,” Archbishop Charles Scicluna told reporters ahead of the conference this week in the Vatican’s Gregorian University on the crisis of pedophilia in the Church.

“There is awareness that there is abuse and something needs to be done,” added Scicluna, who addressed an unprecedented closed-door meeting on the issue with Asian Church leaders in Bangkok in November last year.

The Vatican has asked national bishops’ conferences from around the world to submit by May their guidelines on how to deal with abusive priests and cooperate with local law enforcement in an effort to root out abuse.

Report from Inquirer.Net