Vatican gets breather in child sex abuse case

STRASBOURG, FRANCE: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday rejected a case by alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests who sought to hold the Vatican responsible, saying the Holy See benefited from legal immunity granted to sovereign states.

The ruling came as the Church is reeling from a scathing French report that found “massive” child sex assaults by clergy since 1950, with an estimated 216,000 abused minors.

Victims’ advocates have demanded reparations, and Pope Francis - who has vowed to end impunity for abusive priests - expressed his “shame” over the independent French report released last week.

But the ECHR ruling found that 24 alleged French, Belgian and Dutch victims could not demand prosecution against the Vatican and compensation for what they deemed a “policy of silence” on the issue of sexual abuse.

The claimants, who originally filed their case in Belgium but saw it rejected in first instance and on appeal, said their right to access to a court had been denied.

“Belgium’s recognition of the Holy See as a foreign sovereign with the same rights and obligations as a state was conclusively established,” the ECHR, based in the French city of Strasbourg, said in a statement.

The Vatican is not a member of the Council of Europe and hence not subject to ECHR jurisdiction, though it was allowed to present written statements in the case as a third party.

It was the court’s first case to consider the immunity granted to the Holy See, which is facing a wave of anger worldwide over its failing to halt sex abuse at the hands of priests who escaped prosecution in several cases.

Twenty of the applicants nonetheless managed to obtain compensation via a Catholic Church arbitration committee for sexual abuse victims.