False
Churches, False Brethren, False Gospels
Belgian Catholic church Child sex victims sue the Vatican
* From correspondents in Ghent
* From: AFP
* June 02, 2011 4:40AM
DOZENS of victims of a child sex scandal in the Belgian Catholic
church have announced the launch of legal action against the Holy
See, the first such suit in Europe.
Lawyers and victims said overnight a summons was on its way to
Rome as well as to Belgian bishops to appear before a Belgian
civil court for failing to stop sexual abuse by priests and church
workers under their responsibility.
"The group of victims of sexual abuse in the church have summoned
the Holy See, the Belgian bishops and superiors of religious
orders and congregations in the Ghent Court of First Instance,"
they said.
A 40-page summons is being translated into Italian before being
served on the Vatican.
The group of some 80 plaintiffs, which lawyers said was growing by
the day, said it was the first time in Europe that legal
proceedings had been initiated against the church authorities.
"The Pope is the head of the Holy See," said lawyer Walter Van
Steenbrugge. "He is the appointer and authority over the bishops,
which means that he can be liable for their errors. In addition,
he can be held liable for his own faults.
"He neglected to intervene himself and to give instructions, which
meant that abuse was liable to continue and the damage was able to
increase."
Belgium's Catholics are reeling over revelations last year of
nearly 500 cases of abuse by priests and church workers since the
1950s, including 13 known suicides among victims.
Among several victims who stood up to denounce the church's
failure to stem the sexual abuse - grey-haired men in their 50s
and 60s - was journalist and author Roel Verschueren, abused by
Jesuits from the age of 12 to 14 "just around the corner from
here", he said.
"We've all been living for years with a church which is in
denial," he said. "Now we're turning the situation around. We're
in charge, we're choosing an independent judicial framework."
Mr Verschueren said the victims first and foremost wanted the
church to admit its guilt and to pay for the trauma of lost
childhoods and lost years.
"The victims of sexual abuse are often people who've lost their
pride and self-dignity," he said. "They need fast help. In the
United States, people win compensation of $US160 million ($149.88
million), here and elsewhere in Europe you're offered 5000 euros
($6760) to shut up."
Accused of showing little compassion for the victims as evidence
of misconduct piled up in recent months, the Belgian church this
week offered compensation via an as yet inexistent arbitration
panel suggested by parliament.
One of the lawyers, Christine Mussche, said "this is a positive
move by the church but for the moment it's no more than words".
Under the class action suit launched overnight, the Ghent Tribunal
is expected to set hearings for the case in September, the lawyers
said.
The scandal in the Belgian church surfaced last April with
revelations that the bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, had
abused a nephew for 13 years.
He was exiled by the Vatican to a French monastery for spiritual
reflection but while there confessed in an interview to abusing
another nephew, and then went missing.
That development further angered victims of church sexual abuse
and left left the Vatican "stupefied", coming days after it sent
him into exile.