Pope Benedict XVI: A Lawfare Footnote
The historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI last week causes me to recall the involvement of the Office of the Legal Adviser in a lawsuit against the Pope.
Pope Benedict XVI was sued in the Southern District of Texas for numerous claims arising out of the alleged sexual abuse of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit by a Catholic priest in Texas. At the request of the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, in September 2005 the Justice Department filed a Suggestion of Immunity asser
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The historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI last week causes me to recall the involvement of the Office of the Legal Adviser in a lawsuit against the Pope.
Pope Benedict XVI was sued in the Southern District of Texas for numerous claims arising out of the alleged sexual abuse of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit by a Catholic priest in Texas. At the request of the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, in September 2005 the Justice Department filed a Suggestion of Immunity asserting head of state immunity on behalf of the Pope as the sitting head of state of the Holy See. The Justice Department attached a letter I had signed on behalf of the Department of State recognizing the immunity of the Pope as the head of state of the Vatican. In December 2005, the court accepted the Suggestion of Immunity and dismissed the lawsuit against the Pope.
My Suggestion of Immunity for the Pope caused me later to be castigated by British human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robinson (now the defense counsel for Julian Assange) in an article entitled "Put the Pope in the Dock."
John B. Bellinger III is a partner in the international and national security law practices at Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC. He is also Adjunct Senior Fellow in International and National Security Law at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as The Legal Adviser for the Department of State from 2005–2009, as Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council at the White House from 2001–2005, and as Counsel for National Security Matters in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice from 1997–2001.
