Photo of the Day: Try the Pope at the Icc?, by Hanna Trudo, Diplomatic Courier, September 28, 2011

Photo of the Day: Try the Pope at the Icc?

By Hanna Trudo
Diplomatic Courier
September 28, 2011

http://www.diplomaticourier.com/?p=3688&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=45

Protestors calling for the trial of the Pope for allowing the child abuse scandal to continue.

When Megan Peterson was 15 years old, she called the Roman Catholic Church's diocese to report that she was raped. They hung up on her.



Her story – stripped of dignity and plagued with abuse under Pope Benedict XVI's control – is not unique. It has however, like too many other under investigated reports of church-wide sexual assault, received bare minimum attention, if any.



The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), an international support group based in Chicago, is fighting against the church-and-state tug of war that is infamously knotted with bureaucracy.



Crimes against humanity comes to mind, and according to the victims advocacy group, that's the rightful accusation under which Pope Benedict XVI and three other senior Vatican officials fall.

With the help of the U.S. Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a nonprofit legal organization based in New York, and a team of lawyers, SNAP has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to move forward with prosecution.

In addition to Pope Benedict XVI, SNAP has called for the prosecution of Tarcisio Bertone, the cardinal secretary of state, Angelo Sodano, former cardinal secretary of state and U.S. cardinal William Levada. SNAP officials and lawyers argue they should be brought to trial like any other officials who are accused of crimes against humanity.

But hate crimes, it seems, fall on the wrong side of the justice barometer – the crimes must be performed by a State or "state like" organization. Religious institutions, inevitably, fall outside hate crimes' legal bracket.

In a recent conversation with Al Jazeera, David Clohessy, the director of SNAP, said that there are "only a handful of bishops who have been disciplined or demoted or even denounced by the Vatican officials for hiding child sex crimes, only a handful out of 5,000 across the globe.

But Jeffrey Lena, the Vatican's U.S. lawyer, sees the widespread abuse differently. He told The Associated Press the complaint is a "ludicrous publicity stunt and a misuse of international judicial processes."

The Vatican is used to legal scandals. In August, internal files were forced into visibility when an Oregon victim's lawyers insisted the Holy See is liable for sexual abuse by priests.

And more victims like Ms. Peterson, now 21 years old, continue to come forward cautiously with the expectation that officials who have managed to slip under the radar committing rape and other crimes against humanity – by using their untouchable priesthood as protection – will be tried and found guilty under all accounts.