Vatican named as defendant in sex abuse case against Apuron

By Haidee V Eugenio
Pacific Daily News
January 14, 2019

https://bit.ly/2RsfArX

The Holy See, or the Vatican, has been named as a defendant in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit filed on Monday in local court against Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron by his own nephew.

Mark Mafnas Apuron's Jan. 14, 2019 lawsuit in the Superior Court of Guam is similar to the lawsuit he filed in federal court last year against his uncle.

Mark Apuron's two lawsuits accuse Archbishop Apuron of raping him when he was a teen, about 15 or 16 years old, around 1989 or 1990, in the bathroom of the Archdiocese of Agana Chancery Office.

Previous lawsuits against the archbishop alleged that he raped or sexually abused minor altar boys when he was still the parish priest in Agat in the 1970s.

Mark Apuron's lawsuits allege that his uncle raped him when he was already the archbishop of Guam.

A Vatican tribunal announced in March 2018 that it found Anthony Apuron guilty in a case involving child sex abuse allegations. Apuron appealed the canonical trial conviction, but Pope Francis has yet to announce his decision on that appeal.

Meanwhile, Anthony Apuron faces clergy sex abuse lawsuits in local and federal courts on Guam. The plaintiffs for Apuron's accusers are represented by attorney David Lujan, and his law firm.

The archbishop has denied the allegations of sex abuse.

Monday's $5 million lawsuit against Apuron named as defendants the following: Holy See, State of the Vatican City, its instrumentalities and/or agents, up to 10 others, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Agana, Anthony Sablan Apuron, the Capuchin Franciscans, among others, along with up to 50 other unnamed defendants.

The lawsuit says the Holy See, State of the Vatican City, is the ecclesiastical, governmental and administrative capital of the Roman Catholic Church.

"At all times relevant hereto, Defendant Anthony Sablan Apuron, an individual, is an employee and agent of the Holy See. Apuron was appointed the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana by the Pope in his role as the leader of the Holy See," the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit also says the pope, in his role as the leader of the Holy See, removed Apuron from his position.

Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes in October 2016 to replace Apuron should Apuron resign, retire or is removed. 

The Archdiocese of Agana is a defendant in some 200 Guam clergy sex abuse cases that parties are trying to settle. The archdiocese said it is filing reorganization bankruptcy on Wednesday to help settle the cases.