This week the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for the Vatican to be sued by people who allege that they were sexually abused by priests, a decision that likely means a go-ahead for a suit filed against the Pope and involving a now-deceased Milwaukee priest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR2010062805003.html
The nation”s highest court let stand a lower court ruling that suits can be filed against the Holy See in American courts on certain grounds. The Vatican has sought to appeal a case stemming from a lawsuit filed in Portland, Ore., by a man who alleges that he was molested by a priest as a teenager in 1965. That priest was moved around to different assignments, which the plaintiff alleges was all done as a cover-up.
The Vatican’s longtime position is that the Pope and Vatican are protected from litigation by sovereign immunity, but victims’ attorney maintain that the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act permits foreign countries and their representatives to be sued in some cases related to commercial or private activity.
With the Supreme Court refusing to hear the Vatican’s appeal, now pretrial discovery in the Portland suit can begin, with attorneys planning to subpoena church documents and call Vatican officials as witnesses.
Earlier this year a man who alleges he was molested by a priest at a school for the deaf in suburban Milwaukee filed a federal suit against those he holds responsible: Pope Benedict XVI, the Holy See and several top Vatican officials. http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/pope-sued-in-milwaukee-clergy-sex-abuse-case/19450730
The lawsuit identified the plaintiff as Illinois resident John Doe 16. The teen claims that he was molested by the Rev. Lawrence Murphy at St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis, outside Milwaukee. Father Murphy, who died in 1998, admitted to abusing 200 boys at the school from 1952 to 1974.
The lawsuit charges that the Vatican, and the Pope himself, knew that Father Murphy was a pedophile but didn’t act to stop him or defrock him. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
There have been many lawsuits filed against Roman Catholic dioceses across the nation by those who allege that they were sexually assaulted by pedophile priests. But it’s unusual for the Pope himself to be named as a defendant, as in the action filed in Wisconsin.
The suit Milwaukee against the Pope is also unusual in that it wants the Vatican to be ordered to release secret files that have the names of pedophile priests.
Father Murphy’s case made headlines when The New York Times broke a story that alleged that the Pope, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the Vatican, knew about the allegations against Murphy but stopped proceedings to have him defrocked.
The Times wrote that documents released with the suit in Milwaukee show that the Vatican was told earlier than previously thought about the allegations against Father Murphy. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/us/23priest.html?ref=us
Today, Friday, The Times has a huge Page One story on how Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, handled his duties as head of what was essentially the Vatican task force on the priest-abuse scandal. The story’s headline tells the story: “Amid Sexual Abuse Scandal, A Office That Failed To Act: Pope Benedict’s Track Record Called Into Question.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/world/europe/02pope.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
