A US appeals court has ruled that three Kentucky men can pursue a lawsuit against the Vatican for the sex abuse committed by US priests.
Central to the case is a 1962 Vatican mandate unearthed in 2003 that outlined a policy of “strictest” secrecy regarding allegations of sexual abuse by clergy and threatened those who spoke out with excommunication.
The Vatican had tried to block the case, alleging that it orchestrated a cover-up of sexual abuse by clergy with the argument that it was protected by laws granting sovereign states immunity from most US civil proceedings.
The federal appeals court ruled that exceptions in the law could allow the Vatican to be held liable for the actions of Church employees acting within the scope of their employment in the US.
“The portions of plaintiffs’ claims that are based upon the conduct of bishops, archbishops and Holy See personnel while supervising allegedly abusive clergy satisfy all four requirements of the tortious act exception,” Circuit Judge Julia Smith Gibbons wrote in a 20-page ruling on Monday.
The Vatican cannot, however, be held liable for the actual abuse because these acts “were not done while ... acting within the scope of their employment,” Gibbons wrote.
Actions taken outside of the US also do not fall under the jurisdiction of US courts, she said.
The case will now return to a lower court to determine whether the claims made by the plaintiffs are sufficient to try the case under the exceptions to the Foreign Sovereignty Immunity Act (FSIA.) Should jurisdiction be established, the court would then turn to the question of whether the Vatican is, in fact, liable.
“The decision does not address liability at all. It’s restricted to a theoretical question of whether there could be jurisdiction,” said attorney Jeffrey Lena, who represents the Holy See in the case.
“The Holy See still maintains that it has full immunity under the FSIA,” he said.
The structure of the Roman Catholic Church raises questions as to whether bishops and other clergy can be considered employees of the Vatican.
The ruling was hailed as a potential breakthrough by abuse victims.
“This is a very encouraging sign and very long overdue step in the long march toward justice, prevention and healing,” said Barbara Dorris, outreach director for the victims group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
Lena said the Holy See had not challenged whether anyone was harmed in the case but was instead focused on whether a US court had jurisdiction over the Vatican, a foreign sovereign.
He added that the ruling did not establish whether Vatican policy contributed to the allegations of thousands of incidents abuse by Roman Catholic clergy.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS