Hague Urged to Investigate the Pope
Sex abuse victims urge:
REUTERS
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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A group representing sexual abuse victims is accusing Pope Benedict and three top Vatican officials of crimes against humanity in a formal declaration lodged with the International Criminal Court.
The complaint names Pope Benedict XVI, partly in his former role as leader of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which in 2001 explicitly gained responsibility for overseeing abuse cases; Cardinal William Levada, who now leads that office; Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state under Pope John Paul II; and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who now holds that post.
Attorneys for the victims say rape, sexual violence and torture are considered a crime against humanity as described in the international treaty that spells out the court's mandate. The complaint also accuses Vatican officials of creating policies that perpetuated the damage, constituting an attack against a civilian population."We have tried everything we could think of to get them to stop and they won't," she told The Associated Press. "If the pope wanted to, he could take dramatic action at any time that would help protect children today and in the future, and he refuses to take the action."
The group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and the human rights group Center for Constitutional Rights said on Tuesday they had filed a complaint with the ICC alleging that Vatican officials tolerated and enabled the systematic and widespread concealing of rape and child sex crimes.
The Hague-based ICC is the world's first permanent war crimes court.
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