Lawyers opposing Vatican draw line in the sand

In the ten years since the eruption of the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal, lawyers have been searching for a way to pin down the Vatican’s degree of complicity in concealing sexual abuse over the years it was kept tightly secret. Those lawyers have struck major victories recently by succeeding in getting judges to allow them to move forward in their lawsuits directly against the Vatican. This would mark a turning point in existing case law, whereby the Vatican is considered a foreign sovereign and is thus immune to lawsuits. If the Supreme Court declines to overturn this decision, the road to showing liability in clergy sexual abuse cases would become much shorter, with plaintiffs’ lawyers gaining the power to subpoena documents and Vatican officials at will.

This issue has come up in two separate cases recently; one in Oregon, under the guiding hand of Jeff Anderson, and one in Kentucky led by William McMurry. Both cases involve arguing against the sovereign immunity of the Vatican and showing that priests or bishops are actually direct employees of the Vatican. Although earlier attempts to bring the Vatican before U.S. courts have failed, the future is rife with possibilities.