ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
There are three key players in this controversy today.
Everyone knows who Condoleezza Rice is.
Everyone knows who Cardinal Roger Mahony is.
Not everyone knows the third party - Cardinal Angelo Sodano of Rome. He is a close, trusted advisor to the Pope, a top veteran church official who serves now as the Vatican Secretary of State.
Last month, Sodano asked Condoleezza Rice to block a class action lawsuit brought by clergy sex abuse victims that includes the Vatican as a defendant.
We know this because of an exclusive story today by the top American journalist in Rome, John Allen of theAbuse Tracker .
http://nationalcatholicreporter.org/update/bn030305.htm
It is now clear that top Vatican officials doing what American bishops often do - trying to use legal technicalities and political connections to evade justice and accountability in sex crimes cases.
Posted by kshaw at March 4, 2005 09:01 AM