Catholic Church Abuse Victims Seek Prosecution of Pope Benedict and Other Vatican Officials in International Criminal Court
September 14th, 2011Via: Time:
Clergy sex abuse victims upset that no high-ranking Roman Catholic leaders have been prosecuted for sheltering guilty priests have turned to the International Criminal Court, seeking an investigation of the pope and top Vatican cardinals for possible crimes against humanity. The Vatican called the move a “ludicrous publicity stunt.”
The Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based nonprofit legal group, requested the inquiry Tuesday on behalf of the U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, arguing that the global church has maintained a “long-standing and pervasive system of sexual violence” despite promises to swiftly oust predators.
The Vatican’s U.S. lawyer, Jeffrey Lena, called the complaint a “ludicrous publicity stunt and a misuse of international judicial processes” in a statement to The Associated Press.
The complaint names Pope Benedict XVI, partly in his former role as leader of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which in 2001 explicitly gained responsibility for overseeing abuse cases; Cardinal William Levada, who now leads that office; Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state under Pope John Paul II; and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who now holds that post.
Attorneys for the victims say rape, sexual violence and torture are considered a crime against humanity as described in the international treaty that spells out the court’s mandate. The complaint also accuses Vatican officials of creating policies that perpetuated the damage, constituting an attack against a civilian population.
I heard this story on NPR just as the radio station was beginning to fade and thought, THIS IS AWESOME! FINALLY! Someone, goddess bless them, has had the brains to take this RAPE of humans out of the church and into the courts. Excuse me, but I think a HALLELUJAH is in order here.
As if the public relations puppet theater and political grandstanding of the ICC system will have ANY effect whatsoever.
While I agree 110% that the Catholic Church is (and has always been) a monstrous organization bent on social, political and economic domination since it was organized, such an action is akin to lobbing eggs & toilet paper at the Vatican walls.
Sure to get you some attention, and naturally, not all of it will necessarily be the kind you want.
The ICC has levelled nasty accusations against old-guard lizards like Kissinger and Cheney. How many perp walks have we seen there, exactly?
No, I suspect the next dishevelled PR perp walk will probably belong to the Libyan leader, ala Hussein. That it will be one of his body doubles taking the fall pretty much goes without saying.
If they don’t simply level his family compound (again) with a MOAB-style device and declare the war as won. That sounds VERY MUCH like the sort of KPMG-derived foreign policy genuinely being cooked up deep within the distended bowels of the Pentagon’s ideological meth labs.
Funny, EVERY SINGLE TIME a world “leader” goes off the Trilateral plan and starts talking about currencies, they end up on the wrong end — the long end — of a very big green stick.
No, Ratzi and his ilk will not only take this sitting down, they’ll probably go Prada shopping.
Don’t mistake the blindfold worn by Lady Justice as being symbolic of impartiality or objectivity.
Oh no. Based on how she’s been whored out over the centuries, it’s quite clearly a symbol of her ability to ignore all manner of INJUSTICE in the weighing of a final outcome.
Yes Virginia, there’s a reason that she and here sister-in-crime — Lady “Liberty” — BOTH feature so strongly in the liturgy of lies festering away at the core of institutionalized power.
These finely-clad ladies and their stories are undeniably beautiful. It all appears quite honorable with the right composition and proper lighting.
Look at the veritable mountain of glowing biographies penned in paean to our glorious leaders of yore. Reagan. Thatcher. George the First. Clinton. Ad infin-f**king-nitum.
Facts are as flexible as gum trees in the right hands.
The Catholic Church is but a single decrepit watchtower at an important intersection within a MUCH larger walled temple district dominated by the moneylenders since time immemorial. And a fortress by any other name is still a fortress.