The Vatican struck back Friday at a U.N. human rights committee that issued a scathing report on sex abuse by priests, accusing it of straying beyond its mandate and discrediting the U.N. as a whole by adopting the "prejudiced" positions of anti-Catholic advocacy groups.

The Vatican said the U.N. committee had ignored both the Holy See's unique status and its efforts to address the abuse crisis in recent years, noting that it had provided this information to the committee in writing and in person. It blasted what it called the "absolutely anomalous" publicity the committee gave its report and promised a full response at a later date...

Specifically, he accused the committee of giving more credence to the positions of "well-known NGOs, prejudiced against the Catholic Church and the Holy See" than the Vatican itself. In ignoring the Vatican's own explanations and data, he said, it appeared the committee had written the report before the Vatican made its case at a daylong hearing last month.

He said while it was wrong to blame the United Nations as a whole for the committee's "grave shortcomings," the organization itself "bears the negative consequences of what was done by one of its committees, beyond its competence."