(Reuters) – The Vatican has said it cannot be seen as a multinational business whose executives can be held ultimately responsible for the action of their subordinates, because dioceses around the world have their own legal status as employers.THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: So the Vatican says it's not financially liable for sexual abuse committed by American priests. Indeed the Vatican is right, because the argument being put forward by the plaintiff is that priests are "employees" of the Vatican, and therefore, the Vatican operates as an "employer" and is therefore financially liable. This is pure poppycock of course. The Vatican doesn't pay any salaries outside of Rome, nor does the Vatican determine clerical assignments. All of this is done at the local level, by local bishops and their local bishop's conferences. The Vatican is right. It is not financially liable for any sexual abuse committed by any priest outside the walls of the Vatican city-state.
It has also said the pope, as head of a sovereign state recognized by more than 170 countries, has diplomatic immunity from prosecution in other countries.
Pope Benedict is struggling to control the damage a sexual abuse scandal has done to the Catholic Church's image. The crisis has hit the United States and several European countries, including his native Germany.
In his statement, Lena said the Vatican defense would show that Ronan could not be considered an employee of the Vatican.
"In our view, the indicia (signs) of employment are simply not present," Lena said.
"The Holy See does not pay the salary of the priest, or benefits of the priest, or exercise day-to-day control over the priest, and any of the other factors indicating the presence of an employment relationship," he said.
Lena said the Vatican was not even aware of Ronan's "very existence" until after the suit was file. Ronan was a member of the Friar Servants of Mary religious order....
read full story here
However, The Catholic Knight has a message for the Vatican, and I know there are some folks there who read this blog. My tracking software has tagged them on more than one occasion. My message to them is as follows...
Go ahead and offer the best legal defense you can because you are absolutely right, but don't expect to win because it won't matter. The United States legal system is corrupt, and the lawyers working this case have flooded the news media with negative stories about the Catholic Church. Public opinion has been so swayed against the Catholic Church in recent years that it will be virtually impossible to get a fair trial here. It is a trap that has been carefully planned and already sprung. So be prepared to lose in court, even though you are right, because justice is rarely ever attainable through the American legal system. If you don't believe me, just ask any law-abiding citizen of the United States. The best advice I can give you is to prepare a public relations campaign that is bigger than anything you've ever done before, because the damage this lawsuit will do to the Vatican's reputation will be far greater than any monetary value it can extort from your treasury.
6 comments; post here:
I think this is a mistake. It doesn't matter if the Vatican is or is not legally liable.
By claiming they aren't liable it diminishes the authority of the papacy and sends a message to wayward bishops that the Pope is not their CEO.
It would be in the best interest of the Church if the Vatican owned the problems of the church and not left it up to the localities.
Sir Knight, this is a case of "you can't win for losing" or "you're guilty anyway" Even should no monetary damages be levied, the moral standing of the church is utterly destroyed, not only as a social instiution, but as a credible moral force, especially among Catholics. "do as i say, not do as i do" will be the watchword. On the matter of homosexuality, the church's stand will become meaningless, as with other sexual issues (marriage, abortion, etc). I would not be surprised to see the church driven entirely underground, not only here, but in Europe as well. Pete Frey
Lucifer, uses any means to drive discord in the Body of Christ. Be it the secular progressives in the Americas and Europe or the Islamic onslaught.
It has been written in this forum by the Knight that the souls of the good will be few but Christ will prevail at the end as he promised. Hank
BRUSSELS, June 28, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A police raid, the detaining of bishops and the confiscation of files on priestly sexual abuse can be seen as a form of chastisement for decades of open dissent from Catholic teaching by Church authorities in Belgium, a prominent pro-life leader has said.
Brussels police raided the offices of the Brussels Archdiocese on Thursday, searched the cathedral and seized computers and files from the residences of both the current archbishop of Brussels and Cardinal Godfreed Daneels who retired as the head of the church in Belgium in January. Police said the raids, conducted while bishops were meeting in the building, were in connection with allegations of sex abuse by clergy and the Belgian hierarchy’s long history of cover-ups.
Fr. Tom Euteneuer, author and head of Human Life International (HLI) told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that he stands with the pope and unconditionally condemns the actions of police as “a massive violation of confidentiality” of victims who had confided in Church authorities, and a “brutal police action” against the Church.
At the same time, however, he pointed to the years of public antagonism by Belgium’s Catholic leadership to the Church’s sexual moral teaching that furnished the heavily secularist government with the excuse needed for the attack.
“How is it possible,” Fr. Euteneuer said, “to see this as anything but retribution for the sins of a church that has for the past four decades been in a state of continuous public dissent?”
Sir Knight, while i agree with your thesis that the Vatican most probably is not going to be held liable in the strict sense, the above article i share with you reflects how I feel. It's what you say all along: liberals have been out to destroy the church doctrinally, and now its payback time. Pete Frey
I tend to agree with you both that the Vatican should not be legally liable, and that the US legal system is corrupt, at least at the lower court levels. Even if the Vatican loses at the trial court, I would be shocked if any verdict would be held up on appeal.
Regardless, the damage has been done, far more than any monetary award could injure.
As I said above, the Vaticans only solution is PR. They need to stop playing this game by American rules. That is a recipe for failure. They need to reinstate the inquisitions and go after the trouble makers in the Church, then announce repeatedly that the Holy See is on a crusade against child molesters, and will attack this sub-culture at it's very root, going after homosexuality and pornography with a vengeance, excommunicating those that are culpable, and making sexual purity a regular part of catechesis for your people. In everything else the Vatican should avoid playing the legal games of American courts. They are corrupt and cannot be trusted to do the right thing.
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