Vatican Named in International Criminal Court Complaint
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Hague Is Asked to Investigate Vatican Over Abuse
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN of The New York Times
September 13, 2011Human rights lawyers and victims of clergy sexual abuse filed a complaint on Tuesday urging the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate and prosecute Pope Benedict XVI and three top Vatican officials for crimes against humanity for what they described as abetting and covering up the rape and sexual assault of children by priests. The formal filing of nearly 80 pages by two American advocacy groups, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, marks the most substantive effort yet to hold the pope and the Vatican accountable in an international court for sexual abuse by priests.
A spokesperson at the court said that the prosecutor’s office will examine the papers, “as we do with all such communications.” The first step will be “to analyse whether the alleged crimes fall under the court’s jurisdiction,” Florence Olara, the prosecutor’s spokeswoman said.
Complaints about the Vatican and child abuse by Catholic priests have been received at the court before, court records showed. But Ms. Olara said that details are not normally disclosed by the court unless a case goes forward. Lawyers familiar with the I.C.C. said that it was unlikely that complaint against the Vatican would fit the court’s mandate to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. But even an examination of the issue by the prosecution office would appear to serve the plaintiffs’ goal of getting international attention for the case.
A Vatican spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Vatican officials have often said that the decisions about priests accused of abuse are made by bishops — not by the Vatican hierarchy — and that the church is far more decentralized than is widely believed. But the lawyers and abuse victims who are taking the case to the international court say their action is necessary because all the cases brought against priests and bishops in various countries have not been sufficient to prevent the crimes from continuing. “National jurisdictions can’t really get their arms around this,” said Pamela Spees, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, who helped prepare the filing. “Prosecuting individual instances of child molestation or sexual assault has not gotten at the larger systemic problem here. Accountability is the goal, and the I.C.C. makes the most sense, given that it’s a global problem.”
In addition to Pope Benedict XVI, the filing asks the court to prosecute Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s secretary of state; Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the previous secretary of state and the current dean of the College of Cardinals; and Cardinal William Levada, who is head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office designated to receive cases of clergy sexual abuse that are forwarded by bishops.
A central question is whether the accusations will fit the court’s criteria. The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed after July 1, 2002, when the court opened. It is independent of the United Nations and has jurisdiction in the 117 countries that so far have ratified the Rome Statute that created the court. Italy, Germany and the Netherlands are signatories, while the Vatican and the United States are not. The filing against the Vatican cites five cases in which priests have been accused of abuse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United States; the priests in these cases are from Belgium, India and the United States. Ms. Spees said she hoped to convince the court that the cases were within its jurisdiction, because they involve abuses that she said were “systematic and widespread,” and because the pope and two of the three cardinals named in the filing are from nations that are signatories to the Rome Statute.
Experts in international law said they thought the court’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, would be reluctant to accept the cases because of thorny jurisdictional questions, as well as political and religious sensitivities. They said that the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests was sufficiently heinous and numerous to meet the court’s standards. The question is whether the facts show that the Vatican officials actually perpetuated the abuse.
Mark Ellis, executive director of the International Bar Association, which is based in London, said he thought that the Court would open a preliminary investigation to determine whether it has jurisdiction — and that it would probably conclude that it did not. “Crimes against humanity means acts that are committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population,” Mr. Ellis said. “What you’re looking at is really a policy, in which the government or the authorities are planning the attack. When you look at the concept of why and how the I.C.C. was created, I just don’t think this fits,” he said.
“But the filing does something that’s important. It raises awareness. Ultimately the plaintiffs will elevate this in the public eye and it will force the court to respond.”
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I have long believed that the Catholic Church and Vatican have been in a conspiracy to hide these transgressions. Maybe a court trial will reveal just how big a conspiracy existed.
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I'm sure an International trial will take place, right after the Vatican renounces their absurd man-made doctrine against the use of condoms which is responsible for countless deaths thoughout the world, and just after I win the EuroMillions jackpot
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I for one don't think that there's an actual conspiracy. You mean like the Pope saying "Oh, let's hide this and claim it never happened." Nope, it just doesn't seem right. This also implies that Pope John Paul II was in the same conspiracy, and I just can't see that happening.
I don't think it fits the "crimes against humanity" portion. That's like blaming Obama for bullying in schools. Oh it must be his fault because he did nothing to stop it. After all, we're in the USA and he's the head of the USA. And bullying has been ongoing for the past century.
no offense intended, leatherbear. just my opinion.
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If the pope didn't know it was going on, then he must be extremely negligent in his duties of running his religion.
If he knew it was going on and did nothing to stop it, he's guilty.
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Not quite me - I love the Church but this is one area they have a lot to answer for. This issue was long known about at least in the US by the Council of Bishops or whatever that annual meeting where they meet from all over the US….It was brought up more than once and swept under the rug. Priests were transferred repeatedly or fled to Rome to avoid prosecution, Priests went to Catholic families and coerced them into not filing a complaint. Church Records were allowed to be kept secret from secular authorities (not so any more). And on and on.
Did the Pope know about each and every situation? Of course not, it is a world wide Church, but surely an annual meeting of Bishops should have raised some eyebrows.
(and I hate to agree with Raphjd not because it is him, but because I could just strangle these guys who did such incredible damage to our precious Church) but take your pick: it is either a conspiracy or extreme negligence.
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There is a movie about the very first legal case over the child molestation thing.
The incident took place in the mid/late 1960s in Canada.
It was amazing how evil the church was to the victims. Sadly, it seems like this is a pattern with the church. The victims are victimized twice, once by the priest and then by the church itself.
The guilty priest got convicted, but released into the churches hands for rehab. (Special rights for the church, as no other group would have a child molester turned over to them, the molester would be sent to prison)
Most child molesting priests would be secretly moved to another parish and the people there never told he was a child molester.
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I think you're referring to "The Boys of St. Vincent" and it was technically fictional, but was instead a kind of "composite" of a number of Canadian cases.
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That's not the one I'm thinking of.
The Boys of St Vincent is about an orphanage.
The one I'm thinking of is about a small farm community.
**EDIT: ** According to Wikipedia, The Boys of St Vincent is based on real events at Mount Cashel Orphanage (part 1) and the trial (part 2).
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According to Wikipedia;
The first public discussion of sexual abuse of minors by priests took place at a meeting sponsored by the National Association for Pastoral Renewal held on the campus of Notre Dame University in 1967, to which all U.S. Catholic bishops were invited.
That leads me to believe that the Pope knew since then and most likely before.
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I'm aware of the Mt. Cashel orphanage, but " The boys of St. Vincent" still had to be heavily fictionalized/made composite or they would have just called it "The boys of Mt. Cashel".
I'm in agreement that the pope almost certainly knew about abuse, but I don't know if a meeting in 1967 proves anything. Getting an invitation is not the same as attending. Making accusations or broaching a subject for the first time is not the same as proof or "full awareness." THE PRECEDING STATEMENTS ARE NOT EXCUSING WRONG DOING, but it would be just as if is someone said to me "State employees are crooked." Yeah, there are 30,000 of us and I'm sure one or two are crooked. It would be very difficult for me to accept after working there 25 years that MOST state employees are stealing. (even if most state employees actually did steal.).
