HAGåTñA (GUAM)
Pacific Daily News [Hagåtña, Guam]
September 14, 2022
By Haidee Eugenio Gilbert
The Vatican has said that recent court inquiries directed to Pope Francis as a head of state are “improper” under the doctrines of absolute immunity and personal inviolability in response to District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood’s order for the Holy See’s counsel to report on whether Pope Francis could meet with all survivors of Guam clergy sexual assaults to help settle abuse claims.
The Vatican said judicial inquiries directed to the pope as a head of state are “improper,” after a federal judge ordered the Holy See’s counsel to report on whether Pope Francis could meet with all survivors of Guam clergy sexual assaults to help settle abuse claims.
Attorneys for the Vatican, led by California-based Jeffrey Lena, also said the Holy See “has given no indication that it is currently inclined to settle the case at bar,” or participate in similar lawsuits.
All this is part of an ongoing case filed by a man seeking to hold the Vatican liable for the actions of Guam’s former archbishop, Anthony Apuron, who allegedly raped him when he was a minor student at Father Dueñas Memorial School in 1994-1995.
U.S. District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood is currently weighing the Vatican’s motion to dismiss this particular case filed by the plaintiff, named in court documents only as D.M. to protect his privacy.
Tydingco-Gatewood ordered the Holy See’s counsel to file a formal report indicating whether he conferred with the pope on specific questions before deciding on whether or not to dismiss the case against the Vatican.
Those include whether the Vatican is amenable to accepting service of process, and whether Pope Francis is inclined to meet with all the Guam plaintiffs who were allegedly abused at the hands of clergy to discuss a global settlement.
‘Improper’
The Vatican said the court inquiries directed to Pope Francis as a head of state are “improper” under the doctrines of absolute immunity and personal inviolability.
“As a matter of international comity, a federal court should not be requesting information regarding Pope Francis’ ‘inclin[ations]’ as to a particular legal controversy, any more than a foreign court should request such information from the President of the United States,” the Vatican legal team said in a Sept. 13 court filing.
Attorney-client privilege
The Vatican legal team also said the court’s recent inquiries “inappropriately” enter into the sphere of the attorney-client relationship.
“In light of the attorney-client privilege, the Holy See respectfully declines to provide a response indicating whether counsel has conferred with the Holy See about two questions and, if so, what is the Holy See’s responses to the court’s questions,” the Vatican legal team said.
The Vatican cited a lack of jurisdiction, insufficient services of process and failure to state a claim of relief in asking the court to dismiss D.M.’s case against the Holy See.
Beyond scope
In their court filing by the court-set deadline, the Vatican legal team said all this pertains only to a single case filed by plaintiff D.M., and not “all the Guam plaintiffs,” as the judge stated.
The court’s inquiry, according to the Vatican legal team, “extends beyond the scope of the case or controversy before this District Court.”
The single plaintiff does not represent the interests of any other individual, they said.
The pending issue is whether the court has subject matter and personal jurisdictions over D.M.’s claims against the Holy See, the legal team added.
They also said the court’s inquiry misconstrues the legal structure of the Catholic Church, when the judge suggested that abuse claims don’t have to be settled locally by each separate Catholic entity.
No settlement
The Vatican legal team also said the law leaves settlement decisions to the individual litigant’s judgment.
“In fact, the Holy See’s briefing illustrates several factors that would render a settlement of this case inappropriate, including that (a), the District Court lacks subject matter and personal jurisdiction over D.M.’s claims against the Holy See and (b), the complaint fails to identify any tortious conduct by the Holy See,” the Vatican legal team said.
The Vatican legal team said it continues to work cooperatively with D.M.’s counsels, including Guam-based attorney Charles McDonald.
More than 270 filed clergy sexual abuse claims in the Archdiocese of Agana’s ongoing bankruptcy case, and a hearing will soon start on the settlement offer of $37 million to $101 million.