A European court agreed Tuesday that the Vatican couldn't be sued in a local court for sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests, affirming that it enjoys sovereign immunity and that the misconduct of priests and their superiors cannot be attributed to the Holy See.
The European Court of Human Rights dismissed a case brought by 24 people who said they were victims of abusive priests in Belgium The 24 had argued the Holy See was liable due to the “structurally deficient" way the Catholic hierarchy had for decades covered up cases of priests who raped and molested children.
The 24 appealed to the Strasburg-based court after Belgian courts ruled they had no jurisdiction given the Holy See’s immunity as a sovereign state.
The European court said the Belgian courts were correct and that the victims’ hadn’t been deprived of their right to have access to a court. It restated the Belgian court ruling that the Holy See enjoys sovereign immunity and that no exception to that rule applied since the misconduct of bishops in handling abuse cases couldn't be attributed to the Vatican.
The European court said it wasn't appropriate to substitute its own assessment since the Belgian courts' decision hadn't been arbitrary or unreasonable.
Citing the Belgian decision, it said that the pope wasn't the “principal' of his bishops, “that the misconduct attributed directly to the Holy See had not been committed on Belgian territory but in Rome; and that neither the pope nor the Holy See had been present on Belgian territory when the misconduct attributed to the leaders of the church in Belgium had been committed," according to a summary of the ruling.
Tuesday’s ruling, the first time the Holy See's immunity was tested by the European court, was a Chamber judgment. Both sides have three months to ask that the case be heard by the court’s Grand Chamber for a final decision.
Neither the Vatican nor the victims' lawyers immediately responded to an email seeking comment.
