Delictum Gravius: Assessing the Vatican and the Former Pope's Responsibility for Priests' Sex Crimes under International Law

• Author: Sophie Clavier
• Position: San Fransisco State University
• Pages: 608-626

e Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law

ISSN: 2338-7602; E-ISSN: 2338-770X

http://www.ijil.org

© 2014 e Institute for Migrant Rights Press

rst published online

608

DELICTUM GRAVIUS

ASSESSING THE VATICAN AND THE FORMER POPE’S RESPONSIBILITY

FOR PRIESTS’ SEX CRIMES UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

SOPHIE CLAVIER

San Fransisco State University

E-mail: sclavier@sfsu.edu

is article rst posits that the Holy See and its temporal representation, the Vatican

City, constitute a sui generis state, endowed with all rights and responsibilities

reserved to every sovereign state. It further argues that molestations of children and,

the ensuing cover up by bishops and priests can be attributable to the Holy See,

thus making it responsible for committing wrongful acts under current principles

of international law. It furthers argues that these wrongful acts may amount to

international crimes, thus triggering the individual responsibility of bishops as well

as that of the former Pope.

Key words: Sex Crimes, Human Rights Violations, Holy See, State’s Responsibility,

International Criminal Law.

I. INTRODUCTION

Following the scandal of child molestation by priests, several lawsuits have

been successfully brought in the United States and abroad against Roman

Catholic Dioceses, each within their national jurisdictions, resulting in

millions of dollars in damage awards or settlements.1 During those cases,

1. In the United States alone, BishopAccountability.org, an online archive established

by lay Catholics, accounts for over 3,000 civil lawsuits have been led against

the church” in the United States, resulting in some of these cases have resulted

in multi-million dollar settlements. e Diocese of Dallas paid $30.9 million in

1998 to twelve victims of one priest ($44.3million in present-day terms). e

Sophie Clavier

GRAVIUS DELICTUM: ASSESSING THE VATICAN AND THE FORMER POPE’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRIESTS’ SEX CRIMES UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

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plaintis attempted to implicate the individual responsibility of the former

Pope, Benedict XVI, and of the Vatican as a judicial entity. None of the

attempts succeeded as there seems to have been an overall consensus that

the Vatican City as a state, has sovereign immunity and, that the Pope

(now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) is immune from jurisdiction as the

head of the Holy See.

However, this article contends that immunity from foreign courts’

jurisdiction should not be interpreted as immunity from the law and thus,

does not preclude liability under international law. is article seeks to

nd out whether or not the Holy See or its temporal representation, the

Vatican City State, were legally responsible for committing wrongful acts

under international law, whether or not these wrongful acts amounted

to international crimes, and if so, whether or not these acts could trigger

the joint and several liability of bishops as well as that of the former

Pope, under current principles of international criminal law. Addressing

these issues requires a step-by-step approach and the answers to a set of

successive questions.

First, we need to review the legal status of the Vatican and of the

Holy See and demonstrate that they can be treated as full subjects of

international law with rights and responsibility (thereof Section II).

Secondly, we need to ascertain if the acts of priests, and/or bishops are

imputable to the Holy See (Section III). irdly, we need to examine the

nature of the acts under international law, and determine whether or not

they could amount to international crimes, and not merely wrongful acts,

in order to establish that, regardless of procedural immunity, the former

Pope could personally be found legally responsible (Section IV).

Diocese of Louisville paid $25.7 million to settle child sexual-abuse allegations.

e Diocese of Boston settled for $85 million with 552 alleged victims, and the

list goes on. http://bishopaccountability.org.