The Holy See fielded questions from another United Nations Human Rights committee in May, this time in a periodic hearing before the Committee Against Torture (CAT). Holy See representatives relied upon the same tactic they used with the Committee on the Rights of the Child in January, when they asserted that the Vatican was only responsible for sexual abuse that occurred within the confines of Vatican City. CAT committee members rejected this defense, asserting that “officials of the Holy See do exercise control over a significant range of conduct that takes place outside the four corners of the Vatican City State,” according to Voice of America News.

The Holy See depicted a positive outcome to Vatican Radio, stating, “The Committee did NOT conclude that the Holy See, its officials, and those acting on its behalf, in conjunction with it, or under its direction or control have violated the Convention Against Torture [emphasis in original].” But, as Felice D. Gaer, vice chair of the panel, told the Guardian (UK), this perspective relied upon a technicality: “We don’t use the word ‘violation’; others do. But it’s quite clear [the Holy See is] not in conformity with the requirements of the convention.”

One of the critical issues at stake was whether or not clergy sexual abuse is considered to be torture. The Holy See said that the committee report stopped short of making this assertion, while the Associated Press reported that Claudio Grossman, the panel chairman, said that the experts designate sexual abuse as torture when “a responsibility of a state comes into play,” that is, “if there was no prevention or there was no investigation and punishment.” In keeping with this definition, the committee criticized the Holy See’s lack of civil reporting structures as well as its history of moving abusers to help them escape punishment.

Defining sexual abuse as a form of torture takes it outside of any statutes of limitations and could potentially reopen many older cases, Katherine Gallagher, an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents some clergy abuse victims, told the Associated Press.