BishopAccountability.org
	Bishops Work for the Vatican: Real Aim Is to Disown the Church's Victims. The Palm Beach Post April 18, 2010 http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/bishops-work-for-the-vatican-real-aim-is-697936.html?cxtype=rss_editorials Cynics say there's a big difference between a moral argument and a legal brief. The Vatican's claim that Catholic bishops are not its employees gives those cynics ammunition. The Vatican on Monday asked a U.S. district court in Kentucky to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to hold the Holy See accountable for the failure of bishops to prevent or report child abuse by priests. Bishops, the Vatican argues, don't work for the pope. They're not Vatican "officials" either, the church says. The plaintiffs' lawyer, William McMurry, says that's nonsense. "Anybody walking around knows that a bishop is an official of the Holy See," he told The Associated Press. He noted that the pope appoints bishops, sets rules they must follow and that the Vatican has oversight for many of a bishop's major decisions. The Kentucky case is one of several nationwide trying to establish that Rome has legal liability in addition to whatever liability a local diocese admits or is forced in court to accept. Plaintiffs in the Kentucky case and others say the Catholic church actively covered up for pedophile priests and that the coverup extends all the way to Rome. A recent case from Wisconsin, for example, alleges that a deputy to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, ordered a bishop to stop the canonical trial of a Milwaukee priest accused of abusing up to 200 deaf boys. The Archdiocese of Louisville agreed in 2003 to pay $25.3 million to 243 victims of sex abuse. But in the current case, filed in 2004, Mr. McMurry argues that the Vatican owes victims compensation beyond that. He is seeking class-action status that could cover thousands of plaintiffs. The relationship between the Vatican and bishops is complicated, both in theological matters and for more mundane legal issues, such as to what extent the Vatican can protect its bank accounts from plaintiffs. But whatever the legal reasons for the Vatican to disown its bishops, the assertion that bishops are independent contractors of some sort has the distasteful effect of disowning victims that, regardless of whether the Vatican is legally responsible, the church failed to protect. It's hard to find a moral defense for that legal defense.
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