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November 16, 2016

U.S. bishops' new vice president a great resource on immigration, says Vatican official

The newly elected vice president of the U.S. bishops' conference, Archbishop Jose Gómez, will be a great resource on immigraiton, says Archbishop Silvano Tomasi.

ROME - Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said the election of Archbishop Jose Gómez as vice president of the U.S. bishop’s conference will serve as a great resource on immigration, especially in wake of the presidential election of Donald Trump – known for his “fiery” comments on the issue.

Published in International
December 8, 2014

Pope Francis calls for solidarity in creating a world without nuclear weapons

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz talks with Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons Dec. 8. Pope Francis called on world leaders, activists and people of faith to pull together to rid the world of the threat of nuclear weapons.

VIENNA - Pope Francis called on world leaders, activists and people of faith to pull together to rid the world of the threat of nuclear weapons.

Published in International
July 23, 2014

Stop targeting civilians, archbishops tells Israelis, Gaza fighters

An Israeli soldier prays atop a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip July 23. Israeli forces pounded the Gaza Strip July 23 and said they were meeting stiff resistance from Hamas militants.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican representative to the UN Human Rights Council urged the Israeli military and fighters in the Gaza Strip to stop targeting civilian areas.

Published in International
July 2, 2014

Vatican’s UN envoy says bishop’s defrocking shows church takes abuse seriously

Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, former nuncio to the Dominican Republic, is pictured celebrating Mass in Santo Domingo in 2009. Wesolowski was found guilty of sexual abuse of minors and was defrocked last week.

VATICAN CITY - The defrocking of a former Vatican ambassador is a “sign of the seriousness” with which Pope Francis and the Vatican are approaching the clergy sexual abuse scandal, according to the Holy See’s representative to United Nations agencies in Geneva.

Published in Vatican
June 15, 2014

World must help unaccompanied minors fleeing violence, official says

This handout photo courtesy of the office of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, shows unaccompanied migrant children at a Department of Health and Human Services facility in south Texas. Many undocumented minors coming across the U.S. border claim they ar e escaping gang violence in their home countries.

VATICAN CITY - On rickety boats crossing the Mediterranean Sea or on trains through Mexico or desert paths crossing the U.S.-Mexican border, a huge increase in the number of children traveling alone to flee war or violence calls for urgent action by the international community, a Vatican official said.

Published in International
May 22, 2014

UN board urges Vatican to punish bishops who mishandle abuse claims

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi had tried to explain to the committee that the Holy See had direct juridical control only over Vatican City State, its citizens and employees, but not over all bishops and priests around the world. The UN Committee Against Torture urged the Vatican to impose "meaningful sanctions" on any Church authority who fails to follow Church law in dealing with allegations of sexual abuse.

VATICAN CITY - The UN Committee Against Torture urged the Vatican to impose "meaningful sanctions" on any Church authority who fails to follow Church law in dealing with allegations of sexual abuse and asked that Church officials worldwide be required to report abuse allegations to local police.

Published in International
May 13, 2014

Vatican official voices opposition to automated weapons systems

Despite sophisticated programming, automated drones or other machinery would never comply with international human rights law, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican observer to U.N. agencies in Geneva, Switzerland, told experts meeting May 13-16 to disc uss lethal autonomous weapons systems. Archbishop Tomasi is pictured in a late January photo in Geneva.

VATICAN CITY - No matter how sophisticated and how many algorithms are programmed to help a drone or other machine make calculations before firing on a target, autonomous weapons systems could never comply with international human rights law, a Vatican official said.

Published in Vatican
May 6, 2014

Vatican defends record on sexual abuse to UN panel

The Vatican’s ambassador to UN agencies in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, told the panel May 6 that the Catholic Church had “crossed the threshold” in its approach to the issue of abuse, saying the Church’s internal culture had changed.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has effectively addressed the “worldwide scourge” of clerical sexual abuse over the past decade and promoted the reporting of allegations to both Church and legal authorities, a United Nations panel heard.

Published in Vatican
May 5, 2014

Vatican official says church making progress in stopping sexual abuse

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, told the Committee Against Torture May 6 that the sexual abuse of children "is a worldwide plague and scourge" that the Vatican, national bishops' conferences, religious orders and individual dioceses have worked seriously to eliminate within the Catholic Church.

VATICAN CITY - Appearing before a U.N. committee monitoring adherence to an international treaty designed to fight torture, a Vatican official insisted that, over the past 10 years, the Catholic Church has "in a systematic, constructive and effective way," worked to prevent clerical sexual abuse of minors and assist victims.

Published in Vatican
May 4, 2014

UN torture committee questions Vatican on sex abuse scandal

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See representative to UN agencies in Geneva, led the Vatican delegation at the May 5-6 hearing of the Committee Against Torture, which monitors the implementation of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.

VATICAN CITY - Appearing before a UN committee monitoring adherence to an international treaty designed to fight torture, Vatican officials repeatedly were asked about efforts to investigate allegations of clerical sexual abuse, punish offenders and co-operate with civil authorities in prosecuting the perpetrators.

Published in International