Church Sex Abuse Victims Ask for Pope to Be Prosecuted, Fresh Outlook, September 15, 2011

Church Sex Abuse Victims Ask for Pope to Be Prosecuted

Fresh Outlook
September 15, 2011

http://www.thefreshoutlook.com/?p=2554

Victims of alleged sex abuse in the Catholic Church request the prosecution of the Pope and three other Vatican officials.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) have requested the prosecution of the Pope and three other Vatican officials by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

All four individuals stand the possibility of being prosecuted for alleged crimes against humanity if the ICC takes up the case. SNAP, who have been running since 1988, requested that the court “take action and prosecute the Pope and three other high-ranking Vatican officials for their direct and superior responsibility for the crimes against humanity of rape and other sexual violence committed around the world”.

With help from lawyers from the US Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the American-based group have compiled over 20,000 pages of evidence to support their case against Pope Benedict XVI; Tarcisio Bertone, the cardinal secretary of state; Angelo Sodano, his predecessor; and William Levada, a US cardinal who is head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the office designated to investigate any sex abuse cases referred to them by bishops.

Talking about the case, Pam Spees, a CCR lawyer, stated: “The Vatican officials charged in this case are responsible for rape and other sexual violence and for the physical and psychological torture of victims around the world both through command responsibility and through direct cover-up of crimes.” Before going on to add: “They should be brought to trial like any other officials guilty of crimes against humanity.”

However, many international law experts are doubtful as to whether the case will even make it into court, with the prosecutor’s office at the ICC stating: “We first have to analyse whether the alleged crimes fall under the court’s jurisdiction.”

Even if the case does succeed in being taken up by the court, the ICC would only be able to investigate any alleged crimes committed after July 1, 2002, when the court was founded.

SNAP outreach director Barbara Dorris commented to The Fresh Outlook that she hoped the court would “fully investigate and punish those responsible, seeking justice for the crimes committed and deterring those in the future”.

She added: “I would encourage anyone who has been harmed by a member of the clergy to contact the authorities to hold those people, or those protecting the predators, responsible.”