Vatican can be sued for clergy abuse, judges rule
And it’s about freekin time.
The Catholic Church has deep pockets.
And they have deep responsibility. For years they had the knowledge that they had homosexual rapists attacking little boys in their midst. They covered up their internal crisis by shuffling the guilty from one location to another, rather than cooperating with the authorities to see that the guilty were sent to prison like any other adult who raped a child.
Hopefully this is the beginning of a series of legal actions that culminates in a cleansing of the Church, which is supposed to be the bastion of Christianity and all things good.
Butt-raping little boys is not Christian and covering up the crime is not good. Let the prosecutions and lawsuits begin.
By Manya A. Brachear March 5, 2009
Reporting from Chicago—A federal appeals court ruling has brought an Oregon man one step closer to suing the Vatican for sexual abuse he says he suffered by a Roman Catholic priest.
In a 59-page decision issued Tuesday, a three- judge panel from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the man—who says he was molested in the 1960s by a priest at a Catholic school—can pursue a civil lawsuit against the Holy See because the priest allegedly abused him while serving in a religious capacity.
Lawyers for the plaintiff hailed the ruling as a watershed moment for victims of clergy abuse, who for decades have wanted to hold the Catholic hierarchy accountable for protecting priests.
A lawyer for the Holy See commended the ruling for acknowledging the Vatican’s decentralized structure.
”They have been choosing for years . . . to protect the clerics and not the kids,” said Jeff Anderson, a Minneapolis lawyer representing the Oregon man. “This really is another step forward, another door open. . . . The good news for the laity, the community of faith, the parishioners and all of us is that the Vatican can now be held accountable.”
Although the ruling does not permit victims to sue Pope Benedict XVI, Anderson said he intended to depose the pontiff.
