By Sarah Gerathy
ABC News
April 1, 2010
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/01/2862863.htm?section=justin
UNITED STATES -- In a bold move against the Catholic Church hierarchy, a United States lawyer has filed a legal motion to have the Pope questioned over child abuse.
Kentucky lawyer William McMurry wants the Pope to give sworn testimony about the scandal engulfing the church in the US.
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| A Kentucky lawyer wants Pope Benedict XVI to testify over the child abuse scandal engulfing the Catholic Church. |
But the Vatican says the Pope should not be subject to questioning.
Mr McMurry is representing alleged victims of sex abuse by Catholic clergy. He has filed a motion in court accusing the Pope of being aware of sex abuse in the Catholic Church in the US and is seeking to question him under oath.
The motion says that during the 24 years he was responsible for screening complaints from US bishops about abusive priests, the Pope "discouraged prosecution of accused clergy and encouraged secrecy to protect the reputation of the church."
Last week the New York Times released documents suggesting that as head of The Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, Pope Benedict was aware of the case of a serial paedophile priest who was accused of molesting up to 200 boys at a school for the deaf in Wisconsin.
The legal motion says that unequivocally links the Pope to child sex abuse cases in the United States.
"These documents directly implicate Pope Benedict XVI's involvement in the Holy See's decision to cast a shroud of secrecy over clergy sexual abuse cases in the United States," an extract from the motion reads.
But the Associated Press is reporting that the Vatican has already lodged a preview of its legal defence in the Federal Court in Louisville seeking to have the suit dismissed.
Pope's immunity
Vatican lawyers are planning to argue the Pope has immunity as head of state and American bishops who oversaw abusive priests were not employees of the Vatican.
The Vatican correspondent for the Tablet newspaper, Robert Mickens, says the church may be avoiding tackling the issue head on because of fears of future liability.
"Already in the United States two courts at least have permitted the plaintiffs to include the Holy See, the Vatican as defendants in cases," he said.
"I suspect that is one of the reasons, could be one of the reasons why the Pope has been very careful not to see that he or the Vatican itself has been responsible."
This week Pope Benedict used his address to pilgrims in St Peter's Square to call on priests to conform more closely to the message of Christ.
But he did not make direct reference to the sex abuse scandal facing the church.
"May priests everywhere be conformed ever more closely to Christ as heralds of his message of hope, reconciliation and peace," Pope Benedict said.
The Pope was later handed a letter of support signed by about 4,000 university students from the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei describing journalists who had written about the widening child sex abuse scandal in the church as "sowers of mistrust".
But some pilgrims in St Peter's Square did not see it as such a straightforward issue.
"If I was the Pope? I don't know what I'd do," pilgrim Tim Kramer said.
"It's a bad situation for the priests. If it's proven that they have done it, they need to be dismissed."
Mr Mickens says many in the church are still in denial about the significance of the abuse.
"I get the impression that they have not grasped the enormity and the potential danger or catastrophe that this situation is bringing," he said.
Today Roman Catholic bishops in Switzerland admitted they underestimated the extent of sexual abuse committed by priests and offered an apology.
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