A U.S. lawyer said Wednesday he will press ahead with a lawsuit alleging Pope Benedict XIV conspired to cover up the abuse of three boys by a seminary student in Texas, despite the pontiff's request for diplomatic immunity.
"This diplomatic move has stopped the suit right in its early stages," Daniel Shea, who represents one of three plaintiffs in the unprecedented civil suit, told Reuters.
"But there are various avenues we can go down depending on what the (U.S.) State Department does next," he said, adding that he hoped to take a deposition from the Pope as early as the end of this year.
The Vatican's embassy in Washington filed a request in May for the U.S. government to declare immunity for Pope Benedict as a head of state, according to documents provided by Shea.
Shea called a news conference in Rome on Wednesday to announce that he would pursue the case. On Tuesday, he took part in a demonstration organized by Italy's Radical Party urging President Bush to refuse the pope's immunity request.
Ratzinger named as defendant
The suit alleging the boys were abused in the mid-1990s was filed in June last year. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was named as a defendant in the case in January, four months before he was elected Pope John Paul's successor on April 19.
Ratzinger is accused of conspiring with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to cover up the alleged abuse by seminary student Juan Carlos Patino-Arango. U.S. courts have issued an arrest warrant for Patino-Arango, who is on the run.
The lawsuit cites a letter Ratzinger wrote for bishops around the world in May 2001 explaining that allegations of sexual abuse of minors would be handled by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which he headed before becoming pope.
A translation of the Latin letter provided by Shea says grave cases involving sex with minors are the "exclusive competence" of the congregation and are "subject to the pontifical secret" for 10 years after the victims turn 18.
"The documents uncovered demonstrate a conspiracy to conceal these crimes after the fact," Shea said.
Automatic immunity?
The Vatican declined to comment on the case.
Legal experts have said the pontiff, as head of the Vatican city-state, automatically has diplomatic immunity.
Shea said he would argue that the Vatican is a church, not a state, but did not expect the U.S. government to intervene.
"Do you think (President) George Bush wants to get involved with this? I rather doubt it," he said.
Shea said he would seek permission from federal courts in Texas to take Pope Benedict's deposition.
"I would expect the court would allow us to probably come to Rome and take his deposition ... as early as later this year."
However, it was not clear if Benedict would have to comply with such a request.
