Belgium Court Throws out Child Sex Claim against Holy See

Straits Times
October 1, 2013

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/world/story/belgium-court-throws-out-child-sex-claim-against-holy-see-20131001

A Belgian court on Tuesday rejected a rare attempt at a child sex class-action suit against the Holy See filed in 2011 by 39 alleged victims of priests and church workers.

The court in Ghent said the Holy See, which represents the Pope and the Vatican government, "is considered to be a state protected by international law that cannot be judged by a foreign court".

Vatican lawyers had pleaded that line before the court, arguing the Holy See's immunity could not be questioned.

In what at the time was said to be the first suit in Europe against the Holy See, dozens of victims of a child sex scandal in the Belgian Catholic church summoned Catholic authorities to appear before the court for failing to stop the abuse.