Pope Francis is to set up a Vatican committee to advise him on sex abuse of children by clergy in the Catholic Church and to offer help to victims.  It comes days after the Vatican refused a United Nations request for information on alleged abuse by priests, nuns or monks.

The announcement is the product of a meeting between the Pope and his eight cardinal advisers.  It’s unclear if the experts will take up one of the core issues behind the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal – how to make bishops who shelter abusive priests accountable to the law of their respective nations.  But it will apparently focus on screening men applying for the priesthood and how to help victims who have already been harmed.

“Up until now there has been so much focus on the judicial parts of this but the pastoral part is very, very important. The Holy Father is concerned about that,” said Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston.

In July, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child asked the Vatican for detailed information about the particulars of all sexual abuse cases notified to the Vatican since 1995.  But the Vatican refused, claiming the cases were the responsibility of the judicial systems of countries where abuse took place.  That UN committee will question Vatican officials in person in January.