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| (Photo: ANP) |
Victims of
sexual abuse by the clergy have asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) in
The Hague to prosecute Pope Benedict XVI and other leading Vatican officials
for crimes against humanity. A worldwide network of victims accuses the pontiff
and three cardinals of aiding and abetting wide-scale rape and sexual violence
against children by priests.
Human
rights lawyer Pam Spees delivered boxes containing over 20,000 pages of
evidence to the ICC today [Tuesday] and asked the prosecutor to begin an
investigation. The complaint alleges that the pope and three cardinals - Angelo
Sodano, Tarcisio Bertone and William Levada - deliberately covered up abuse by
priests.
Victims
speak out
At a press
conference near The Hague, eight adults who were abused as children held up
their childhood portraits and told the press the names of the Roman Catholic
priests who had targeted them. All were members of SNAP, the Survivors Network
of those Abused by Priests. They included victims from the USA, Germany,
Belgium and the Democratic Republic of Congo. SNAP's lawyers say all the cases
were kept secret by the Vatican in a cover-up that amounts to a crime against
humanity.
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| Pope Benedict XVI (Photo: broc) |
The victims
present included Wilfried Fesselmann (43), who was abused at the age of 11 in
Essen, Germany, by a priest who was subsequently transferred to Munich by
then-Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI). The case was known at
the highest levels of the Vatican but the priest went unpunished until the
church sexual abuse scandal erupted in Germany in 2010.
Vatican
implicated
According
to SNAP, the Vatican has tolerated and enabled a systematic and widespread
practice of concealing sex crimes throughout the world for decades. Seldom has
the Vatican meted out significant punishment to priests found guilty of abuse.
The accused are routinely transferred to parishes where paedophile behavior
continues. Sexual abuse is almost never reported to the police.
But the ICC
is unlikely to pursue the case, according to Goran Sluiter, professor of
international law at the University of Amsterdam: 'The case doesn't stand a
chance in my opinion.'
'Jurisdiction
doubtful'
Professor
Sluiter points out that the ICC can only try crimes committed after 1 July
2002, the date when it officially began operating as a court of law. "And
even if the ICC could handle this case, I wonder whether these qualify as
crimes against humanity," says Sluiter.
But SNAP's
lawyer Pam Spees says she will provide ample evidence that the Vatican's
concealment of rape and shielding of sexual abusers is widespread and
systematic, and therefore bears the hallmarks of crimes against humanity.
Spees also
asserts that the complaint falls well within the territorial jurisdiction of
the ICC, even though the Vatican City State is not a party to the Rome statute
that created the Hague court.
"By
nature of the church's worldwide presence these acts are occurring every day in
countries that are party to the Rome statute. But the court also has
jurisdiction over people who are nationals of countries that are party to the
statute. So to the extent that higher-level Vatican officials retain their
citizenship in countries like Italy and Germany, the court has jurisdiction
over these individuals."
Abuse in
Africa
Highlighting
the long reach of the Vatican, another victim addressed the press conference
via a Skype connection from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Benjamin Kitobo
(44) told journalists he was abused at the age of 13 by a Belgian priest at the
Junior Seminary in Kanzenze, Komwezi in the DRC. The priest, Kitobo says, was
never punished and is still working with children at a school near Kigali in
neighboring Rwanda.
Recent
cases
SNAP lawyer
Pam Spees says the statute of the ICC is no obstacle to a case against the
Vatican, because she has evidence of at least three abuse cases dating after 1
July 2002. These include the case of Megan Peterson (21), who was allegedly
abused by a priest in Minnesota, USA in 2004-2005. The priest has been
transferred to his native India and is overseeing schools in the diocese of
Ootacamund (Tamil Nadu).
Megan said,
"I know there were letters back and forth through the Congregation of the
Doctrine of the Faith. There were also prior allegations against him before he
left. I called the diocese two weeks before he left and I was hung up on. He
should have been arrested then."
Surprise visitor
Observers
are doubtful that the complaint will lead to an indictment but it is not being
ignored by the ICC. Following today's press conference, a victim support worker
from the ICC introduced herself to the SNAP president and congratulated her on
the work done so far by the victims' group and its lawyers. She declined to identify
herself to the media, but SNAP members said her presence was an acknowledgment
that their complaint is being taken seriously.
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