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	Vatican Adopts an Old and Tired Defense Strategy in Sex Abuse Case Hartford Courant May 18, 2010 http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/courant-columnists/hc-hc-campbell-vatican-state.artmay18,0,3904617.column The Vatican has signaled that it will employ a legal defense in a clergy child abuse case similar to that of companies in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster: It's not our fault. The Holy See, through its U.S. attorney Jeffrey Lena, insists that bishops are not employees of the Vatican, and so the Vatican is not responsible (or liable) for their actions. The stance is a reaction to a 2004 lawsuit filed in Kentucky against the Vatican for its role in covering up the sexual abuse by clergy, which left, by John Jay College of Criminal Justice's count, more than 10,000 American children victimized. Other lawsuits seek redress from the sovereign state, which insists on protecting, as Wonkette says, the pedophiles who lurk at the wrong end of the confessional. Vatican spokesmen contend that the lawsuit should be dismissed, in part because it was filed too long after the abuse allegedly occurred. Sound familiar? During Connecticut's most recent legislative session, the Archdiocese of Hartford and St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center threw their full weight against HB 5473, which would have extended the state's statute of limitations law for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. In the waning days of the session, the bill was not brought to a vote. Pity, that. This more detailed defense is especially interesting in light of something that Pope Benedict said last week: "...the greatest persecution of the church does not come from enemies on the outside, but is born from the sin within the church; the church therefore has a deep need to relearn penance, to accept purification, to learn on one hand forgiveness but also the need for justice." "Forgiveness is not a substitute for justice."
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