BishopAccountability.org

Vatican controls archdiocese, lawyer says

By Gaynor D. Daleno, Neil Pang
Guam Daily Post
February 01, 2017

http://www.postguam.com/news/local/vatican-controls-archdiocese-lawyer-says/article_430dd806-e79c-11e6-a3a8-379ec8146867.html

CROWN JEWEL: The Dolce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagåtña is one of the crown jewels in the asset portfolio of the Archdiocese of Agana.
Photo by Norman M. Taruc

Taking on the Vatican won’t be easy, but attorney David J. Lujan intends to do exactly that, as he plans to move more cases – alleging pedophile priests victimized altar boys – from the local court to the federal court in Guam.

“We believe that with the naming of the Vatican, that also shows that, really, the archdiocese of Guam is ... controlled by the Vatican, which is a foreign state,” Lujan said Tuesday.

Lujan’s law firm last week filed six sex-abuse cases on behalf of former Guam Catholic altar boys in the District Court of Guam. The six cases named retired priest Louis Brouillard as the alleged predator.

As soon as today, Lujan’s law firm is expected to file more cases in federal court, and this time, these cases will be about Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s alleged abuses of altar boys, from when Apuron was still a priest.

The first six cases filed against the Archdiocese of Agana in the federal court argue that the archdiocese is under the control of the Holy See, which is the central government for Catholic churches, and thus constitutes a citizen of a foreign country for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.

The six cases filed in the federal court so far seek at least $30 million in damages, and that figure could rise with each additional filing.

Lujan expects the defense to challenge the court's jurisdiction over the cases, but said he believes that even without naming the Vatican, many of the cases that have been filed and that are soon to be filed show what he called "true diversity."

Lujan said because numerous individuals named in the lawsuits come from diverse locations, including Minnesota-based defendant Louis Brouillard and the many plaintiffs who reside off island, the federal court should have jurisdiction over the cases.

Other sex-abuse cases in other jurisdictions have tried to reach the Vatican in laying responsibility for similar alleged abuses by priests and bishops at a local archdiocesan level.

However, a Reuters report in 2013 stated that the Vatican, rather than being held responsible for sex abuse cases at a local archdiocesan level, actually offers a legal haven – at least for the pope as the head of the Vatican.

The Vatican could offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute retired Pope Benedict in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Reuters reported, quoting Church sources and legal experts.

In 2010, for example, Benedict was named as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging that he failed to take action as a cardinal in 1995 when he was allegedly told about a priest who had abused boys at a U.S. school for the deaf decades earlier, according to Reuters. The lawyers withdrew the case in 2012, and the Vatican said it was a major victory that proved the pope could not be held liable for the actions of abusive priests, according to Reuters.

But the Guam cases Lujan is representing seek to hold the Vatican, as an institution, responsible.

And Lujan has this message to the pope:

“The message is that, I think maybe not our case, but of course, we hope our case will do it,” Lujan said. “I believe the day is coming where Rome is actually going to be a defendant.”

Contact: editor@postguam.com




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