>From Yahoo link below: (quote) "...VATICAN CITY Dragged deeper than ever into the clerical sex abuse scandal, the Vatican is launching a legal defense that it hopes will shield the pope from a lawsuit in Kentucky seeking to have him answer attorneys' questions under oath.
Court documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press show that Vatican lawyers plan to argue that the pope has immunity as head of state, that American bishops who oversaw abusive priests weren't employees of the Vatican, and that a 1962 document is not the "smoking gun" that provides proof of a cover-up...." (unquote) Were the priest 'agents of a state'? If diplomatic immunity affirmed by the Kentucky court then it ups the anti into higher international..... court.... keeping Pope as head of state. Still responsible. Non absolved if you do-don't. m > > _http://eassurvey.wordpress.com/2010/03/_ > (http://eassurvey.wordpress.com/2010/03/) > > Law firm implicates Vatican, Pope in abuse case By CHRISTINE ARMARIO AP > March 31, 2010 MIAMI - A South Florida law firm is implicating the > Vatican > and Pope Benedict XVI in its handling of a priest accused of sexually > abusing children. Jessica Arbour, an attorney representing one of the > alleged > victims, says documents show the Vatican was aware of Rev. Ernesto > Garcia-Rubio's misconduct as early as 1968. Thirteen years later, Benedict > became head > of the Vatican office that received a petition from Garcia-Rubio seeking > to leave the priesthood. Arbour says the paperwork was lost. Arbour says > they do not have any evidence indicating children were abused during that > time. > A lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Miami, claiming it > was > negligent in its supervision and assignment of the reverend. Arbour says > it may be amended to include the Vatican. > _http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/31/AR201003310 > 0931.html_ > (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/31/AR2010033100931.html) > > Vatican offers 3 reasons it's not liable for abuse By NICOLE WINFIELD, > AP Mar 30, 2010 VATICAN CITY â Dragged deeper than ever into the > clerical > sex abuse scandal, the Vatican is launching a legal defense that it hopes > will shield the pope from a lawsuit in Kentucky seeking to have him answer > attorneys' questions under oath. Court documents obtained Tuesday by The > Associated Press show that Vatican lawyers plan to argue that the pope has > immunity as head of state, that American bishops who oversaw abusive > priests > weren't employees of the Vatican, and that a 1962 document is not the > "smoking > gun" that provides proof of a cover-up. > > The Holy See is trying to fend off the first U.S. case to reach the stage > of determining whether victims actually have a claim against the Vatican > itself for negligence for allegedly failing to alert police or the public > about Roman Catholic priests who molested children. > > The case was filed in 2004 in Kentucky by three men who claim they were > abused by priests and claim negligence by the Vatican. Their attorney, > William McMurry, is seeking class-action status for the case, saying there > are > thousands of victims across the country. > > "This case is the only case that has been ever been filed against the > Vatican which has as its sole objective to hold the Vatican accountable > for all > the priest sex abuse ever committed in this country," he said in a phone > interview. "There is no other defendant. There's no bishop, no priest." > The > Vatican is seeking to dismiss the suit before Benedict XVI can be > questioned or documents subpoenaed. > _http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100331/ap_on_re_eu/eu_the_vatican_s_defense_16_ > (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100331/ap_on_re_eu/eu_the_vatican_s_defense_16) > > > > describes abuse > > > > German bishop accused of beating orphaned girls April 1, 2010 One of the > Pope's closest conservative allies in Germany, Bishop Walter Mixa, has > been > accused of brutally beating and flogging children in his care. The Bishop > of Augsburg, 68, denies the claims by five former pupils at a > Catholic-run > orphanage and care facility. But they will be a source of deep > embarrassment > and concern in the Vatican: Bishop Mixa is part of a conservative axis in > Pope Benedict XVI's native Bavaria that has always backed the pontiff in > his most controversial decisions, from criticising the violence of Islam > in > Regensburg cathedral, to rehabilitating the Holocaust-sceptic Bishop > Richard > Williamson....The beatings were regular and always brutal. > > "At least 50 times Mr Mixa pulled down my trousers and beat me on the > bottom with a stick, five or six whacks each time," Mr Tagwerk > added....The > blows were always administered in places where the bruising could be > hidden - > high up on the arm or on the bottom. One of the victims, a man who is now > 44, reports being flogged with a carpet beater, 35 strokes each time._ > http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7082705.ece_ > (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7082705.ece) >
