Lawyer wants pope’s testimony in Oregon abuse case
Pope Benedict XVI is a head of state and the leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide. To Jeff Anderson, a lawyer who represents victims of sexual abuse by priests, he is also a potential legal witness.
Unlikely as it may seem, Anderson intends to demand the pope’s testimony in a sexual abuse case wending its way through court in Oregon.
“I don’t think I would require him to come to Oregon,” the attorney said in a recent interview. “I would go to him … and videotape and transcribe his testimony.” The Vatican, he said, should be treated “like any other corporation that is subject to the power of the American court system.”
Increasingly, the Vatican, an independent city-state headed by the pope, stands in the cross hairs of lawyers and investigators probing cases of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. The church is fighting back, maintaining both that it is not responsible for the actions of abusive priests and that it enjoys sovereign immunity from the U.S. legal system.
Several lawsuits filed in the United States have named the Vatican as a respondent, and attorneys in at least two cases are seeking a court order demanding testimony from the pope, among other top church officials. Police in Belgium last month raided church offices and opened tombs in a search for evidence in abuse cases, prompting Benedict to assail “the surprising and deplorable manner” in which the raids were carried out.
Continues: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-vatican-lawsuits-20100711,0,4021939.story
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Vatican is not a UN recognised state therefore Mr. Ratzinger cannot be a head of a state. Mussolini’s verdict of Vatican being recognised as a state does not bound rest of the nations. Vatican is not a member of UN either.
“prompting Benedict to assail “the surprising and deplorable manner” in which the raids were carried out.”
HA! In an attempt to misdirect the focus from them, It is quite like a theist to target ones mannerisms, form, and style in ones questioning and exploration rather then to address the heart\substance of the exploration of the subject.