Vatican City, Feb 24, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The Vatican Information Service (VIS) announced today the publication of a volume produced by the Pontifical Academy for Life containing the findings of the symposium organized by the academy, in collaboration with other offices of the Holy See, that was held at the Vatican April 2-5, 2003, on the subject of the “Abuse of Children and Young People by Catholic Priests and Religious.”
As CNA informed earlier this week, the volume is entitled, “Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church: Scientific and Legal Perspectives.” According to Vatican Information Service, the book has been sent to the world’s episcopal conferences and will be made public at the end of March, but an advanced copy was made available to journalists for consultation.
The Pontifical Academy said in a statement that the scope of the April 2003 conference and of this book, “was exclusively to present the phase reached by scientific research on this theme. Obviously, it was not possible to invite all experts in this sector, however several of them, of the highest scientific stature, were available to come to Rome and to publish their contributions, even if none of the eight experts is Catholic.”
Bishop Elio Sgreccia, Vice President of the Academy for Life, notes in an introduction to the volume, that the 2003 symposium touched upon “a terrible phenomenon that, in recent years, has increasingly created unease in the Church and in the media. Pope John Paul II has clearly and emphatically drawn attention to the grave injustice done to the victims.”