Victims seek definitive European ruling on Vatican immunity

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Clergy abuse victims are asking the European Court of Human Rights to make a definitive ruling on whether the Holy See can continue to avoid being held liable for sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests. Lawyers for the victims asked the court’s 17-member Grand Chamber to hear the case. A lower Chamber judgment in October agreed that the Vatican couldn’t be sued in a local Belgian court because it enjoys sovereign immunity. The lower judgment concurred with Belgian courts that had dismissed the case. The 24 victims had argued the Holy See was indeed liable for their abuse because of the “structurally deficient” way the Catholic hierarchy had handled cases of priests who raped and molested children for decades.