As if you haven't heard enough about sexual abuse allegations against the Vatican, a Wisconsin man is filing a lawsuit against the Pope and the Vatican. The plaintiff is going by the name of John Doe 16 and his lawsuit is aiming to place blame on higher level individuals of the Roman Catholic Church. JD16's claim is that the Vatican controls fundraising efforts, doctrine in general, and leadership, all the way down to the lowest levels of the church.
JD16's lawsuit is being filed on behalf of an Illinois man who claims he was abused in the 1960's at the Catholic parish he attended. The unique part about this lawsuit is that the suit is intended to prove that the Vatican is a "business" and global empire. The lawsuit also claims that the Catholic Church practices in "commercial activity" in Wisconsin as well as across the United States by holding "unqualified power" over each diocese.
The Vatican's U.S. based lawyer, Jeffrey Lena, says that the lawsuit is a "publicity stunt with no merit" and that the theories brought up in the suit were introduced to the Vatican some twenty years ago, therefore could not be held liable. There are certain issues that other defense lawyers say will hinder and progress with this lawsuit. One issue is that the lawsuit would claim that the Vatican actually has "a employment relationship" with its priests. A big issue facing this suit would be overcoming the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which includes rules in which limits U.S. legal action against sovereign nations and this includes the Vatican.
Cases such as this are important in the advancement of psychological issues in regards to witness memory, deception, wrongful convictions, and defamation of character. The Catholic Church has had to deal with allegations of sexual abuse for decades. One concern I have with witnesses coming forward twenty to thirty years later is the idea that as a young child, they remember (memory and cognition) being abused by a certain priest over X amount of time. I would like to think that the majority of these individuals are in fact being honest in their allegations because otherwise it opens up all sorts of room for error in law. Priests blamed for these crimes (whom might be 100% innocent) are dragged through the muddy media reports, and community "gossip". Not only does this affect their job as a holy person, but it affects their own psychological well being. If these cases are in fact deceptive and falsified, it puts more pressure on the legal system, the Vatican, and local dioceses to not "screw things up" and place innocent people (and entities) behind bars (and/or labeled a "black sheep" in their community).
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