Vatican subject to US Courts?
So this is an interesting piece of news, that I originally pulled from WTFWJD:
Oregon has found itself at the center of an international story after a federal appellate court ruled that a former Portland man can sue the Vatican in a U.S. court over his alleged molestation as a teenager by a parish priest.
It is the first time in history that a victim has won this right. The decision also means that top Catholic officials may be deposed for Rome’s role in the case.
Victims have long argued that in a rigid hierarchy such as the Catholic Church, decisions come from the Vatican and, therefore, Rome should be held responsible for ongoing coverups of clergy sex crimes.
But defense attorneys for the Vatican argued that the Holy See is insulated from suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and what sort of precedence this will set for other victims of the Catholic Church. I’m sure that appeals will be made, and if things go to trial and don’t go the way the Catholic Church wants, they have an enormous amount of resources to just throw at the problem. I mean, that’s pretty much what they’ve been doing all along to avoid scandal: move priests, don’t tell anyone, and buy people off with “hush” money or brand them as crazy loons.
Now, if only we could sort out this whole excommunication-for-abortion-if-you’re-poor-and-powerless thing.
Tags: catholic, molestation, Vatican
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March 11, 2009 at 6:21 am
Though if they wanted to be treated like foreign diplomats of a sovereign nation, we could just deport them to Vatican city. And by them, I mean all of them. Every last “employee of the Vatican.” Strip the entire Catholic Church of all its leadership here and ship them off to Europe. I don’t think the Catholic church would be feeling too strongly about it then.