Do Priests Work for the Vatican?

Palm Beach Post
August 22, 2012

http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/opinionzone/2012/08/22/do-priests-work-for-the-vatican/

In this file photo provided by the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI addresses a crowd in St. Peter's Square. A judge in Portland has ruled that priests do not work for the Vatican, so the Holy See cannot be held financially responsible for child abuse by priests.

An anonymous plaintiff who says he repeatedly was raped by a priest in the 1960s has lost his attempt to hold the Vatican financially responsible.

A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, has ruled that the priest, Andrew Ronan, was not an employee of the Vatican, so the Holy See cannot be named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

According to The Associated Press, Judge Michael Mossman ruled that that "there was insufficient evidence to decide that the Vatican has both directional and operational control over priests in the United States."

Ronan, who is accused of abusing children in Ireland and in the United States, died in 1992. The plaintiff says the Vatican is responsible for its failure to protect children as the priest moved from place to place.

A lawyer representing the church, however, says Ronan was kicked out of the priesthood very quickly after the Vatican learned of the allegations.

So, the Vatican gets credit for kicking him out, but he wasn't the priest's employer?

The church lawyer told the court that the Vatican is like a state bar association that can sanction lawyers but does not directly employ them.

The plaintiff's attorney said he will appeal. But for now, the Vatican can't be held financially responsible in the Ronan case.

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