Scathing U.N. report demands Vatican act against child sex abuse

Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican is silhouetted during sunset in Rome, March 11, 2013. REUTERS/Paul Hanna

GENEVA/VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday accused the Vatican of systematically turning a blind eye to decades of sexual abuse of children by priests, and demanded it immediately turn over known or suspected offenders to civil justice.

In a scathingly blunt report, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said Church officials had imposed a "code of silence" on clerics and moved abusers from parish to parish "in an attempt to cover up such crimes".