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	Ky. Case May Hold Key to Pending Priest Abuse Suits By Dana Kennedy Aol News May 18, 2010 http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/kentucky-case-may-hold-key-to-pending-catholic-priest-sex-abuse-lawsuits/19480239 The future success of lawsuits against the Catholic Church for clerical sexual abuse may hinge on a Kentucky case involving the interpretation of a 1962 Vatican document about how to handle pedophile priests, and on the question of whether American bishops are considered employees of the Vatican. The Vatican's U.S. attorney, Jeffrey Lena, contends that the 1962 document, "Crimen Sollicitationis," did not preclude clergy from notifying secular authorities if they learned that a priest was sexually abusing a minor. Lena also maintains that U.S. bishops do not work directly for the Vatican, and that legally the Vatican is not liable for their actions. "Crimen Sollicitationis" explains how clergy should handle cases of abuse of children by priests, cases where sex is solicited in the confessional, and cases of homosexuality and bestiality. Lena told AOL News he will file legal arguments today, key to the Vatican's strategy in fighting escalating clerical sex abuse litigation against the church, as part of his motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit in Kentucky. The strategy was outlined in an AOL News story in late March. Lena is trying to ensure that the Kentucky lawsuit is dismissed before it gets to the point where other clerical sex abuse victims might actually have grounds to sue the Vatican for negligence. The outcome of the Kentucky case could be key in how other lawsuits, one from Oregon pending before the U.S. Supreme Court and one recently filed in Wisconsin, are decided. William McMurry, the lawyer who filed the Kentucky suit against the Vatican in 2004 on behalf of three men who say they were victims of priest abuse as youths, says the 1962 document precluded bishops from reporting sexual abuse to police and other civil authorities. McMurry also says that American clergy are, in essence, Vatican employees. McMurry settled a case involving 243 sex abuse victims in 2003 with the Archdiocese of Louisville for $25.3 million. McMurry wants his latest case to be a class-action suit for what he says are thousands of other victims of clerical sexual abuse in the U.S. McMurry maintains that the "Crimen Sollicitationis" effectively prevented bishops from reporting sexual abuse and contributed to a Vatican cover-up. He also wants to force Pope Benedict XVI to testify in the case since McMurry contends that the pontiff is in effect the boss of priests around the world. However, Lena claims that "Crimen" was not distributed to individual dioceses around the world, so not all clergy knew about it. Even if the document had been available everywhere, he argues, it did not bar bishops from reporting abuse to civil authorities. Lena says the document was part of Catholic canonical law, which is not above civil law. "McMurry is not a canonist and our view is based on canonical law, " Lena told AOL News today. "Canon law doesn't trump civil law. McMurry has also had [copies] of all the Louisville archdiocese documents in his possession for years. There's no evidence that 'Crimen' was ever distributed to the Louisville diocese and no evidence that it was used to silence people." McMurry told The Associated Press, though, that the document is a smoking gun. "It's evidence of a 'written' policy that demands no mention be made by a bishop of priest sex abuse," he told the AP. "Since our case, and no other, is about holding the Vatican accountable for the bishops' failure to report to civil authorities, any policy that gags the bishop is relevant and material."
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