Posted on 08/11/2010 1:02:35 PM PDT by marshmallow
WASHINGTON — A US lawyer who has successfully sued the US Roman Catholic church over the long-running child sex abuse scandal said cases against the Vatican are crumbling and he is throwing in the towel.
"You have to have an impossible alignment of planets and moons to win any case against the Vatican," attorney Bill McMurry told AFP a day after he asked a Kentucky court to dismiss a case to hold the Vatican accountable for all child sex abuse by Catholic clergy in the United States.
"It's out of my hands now. It's impossible to meet the burdens that the courts have placed on plaintiffs" who take on the Vatican, said McMurry, accusing the US judicial system of protecting the Holy See.
The Supreme Court has refused to review whether the Vatican is a sovereign state and therefore has broad legal immunity from prosecution over the sexual abuse of minors by priests in the United States.
"I was disappointed that our Supreme Court didn't correct this injustice, and I'm frustrated that I can't hold the Vatican accountable for what the Vatican did, but only for what the bishops did," said McMurry.
"Immunity allows international religious organizations masquerading as foreign countries to commit any horrendous act as long as they do it from a distance," he said.
McMurry filed a motion Monday with Louisville district court to dismiss a case against the Vatican filed by three men who claim they were sexually abused as boys by members of the Catholic clergy. One of the cases of alleged clergy sex abuse dates back to 1928.
The suit, filed in 2004, alleged that the Vatican had a policy of keeping secret any cases of clergy sex abuse.
In March, McMurry filed a motion in a Kentucky court to take sworn testimony from.................
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Somebody call this man a Whaaaaaaambulance.
Counselor, what is this “Vatican” of which you speak?
If he would go after public school teachers, he’d have an easier time of it.
L
Translation: “There’s no big bucks in suing the Pope.”
Taking shots at the Vatican is mostly about a plaintiffs’ lawyer trolling for new clients through media coverage. Almost all clerical abuse cases have been resolved by trial or settlement, leaving no claims to be pursued against the Vatican.
Probably not. The public school system fiercely protects its child molesters. In NYC, they rarely even removed them from the classroom until it had happened several times, and then they would send them off to 110 Livingstone Street, the headquarters, where the child molesting teachers would sit around all day and draw full pay while the union refused to let anybody examine their records (protecting their privacy, don’t you know).
“”Immunity allows international religious organizations masquerading as foreign countries to commit any horrendous act as long as they do it from a distance,” he said. “
Kinda like Mad MOHammed and his boys?
Hmmmmm....what religion was that now????
I know it’s on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t bring myself to say it........ Is,,Is,,, Is,,,,,,lam?
I have a neighbor who is a retired public school teacher and principle. He is also a lapsed Catholic. Among other reasons for leaving the Church, he sited the “sex abuse scandal”. BREATHTAKING hypocrisy. I said nothing. He is impossible.
Holding the Vatican responsible for the actions of a low-level priest in another country who was violating Catholic ethics by his conduct is a stretch. Was Lyndon Johnson ever put on trial for the My Lai massacre?
Too bad, dude, better luck with that Accutane case.
I don’t believe 95% of these claims of abuse. The 1928 case is just one of many in which the supposed abuse took place.
Frankly, I think most of these claims are people thinking they’re going to cash in and ride free for life, and I’m glad they’re being refused.
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