Justice Department sides with Vatican in abuse case.The Bush administration has asked a federal judge in Texas to drop a lawsuit accusing Pope Benedict XVI  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. of trying to cover up sexual abuse charges. The Associated Press reported in late September that the U.S. Justice Department had informed U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal of Houston that the lawsuit against the pope should be thrown out of court because he has immunity as a head of state. The Catholic hierarchy, operating as the Holy See, claims status as a sovereign entity. The lawsuit charges the pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was involved in a conspiracy to shield Juan Carlos Patino-Arango Juan Carlos Patino-Arango was a Roman Catholic seminarian who is accused of child molestation and indecency. While studying in a Roman Catholic seminary, he molested four boys, who have since filed suit against him, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza , a seminarian at St. Francis de Sales Church in Houston, from sexual molestation molestation n. the crime of sexual acts with children up to the age of 18, including touching of private parts, exposure of genitalia, taking of pornographic pictures, rape, inducement of sexual acts with the molester or with other children, and variations of these charges of three boys. The lawsuit highlights a 2001 letter from Ratzinger to bishops worldwide detailing that his Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) (Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei), previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, is the oldest of the nine congregations of the Roman Curia. would handle cases of sexual abuse in church tribunals covered by "pontifical secret," according to the National Catholic Reporter. A lawsuit lodged in Texas against Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Italian: Giovanni Paolo II, Polish: Jan Paweł II) born Karol Józef Wojtyła was dismissed in 1994 pursuant to a similar motion filed by the federal government. |
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