Lawyers for victims of sexual abuse by the clergy have asked the International Criminal Court to investigate Pope Benedict XVI and three top Vatican officials for crimes against humanity for allowing rape and child sex crimes.
Together with New York-based rights group Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) filed a complaint with the ICC alleging that Vatican officials have tolerated and enabled sex crimes.
“Crimes against tens of thousands of victims, most of them children, are being covered up by officials at the highest level of the Vatican. In this case, all roads really do lead to Rome,” CCR attorney Pam Spees said.
The Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of sexual abuse cover-up scandals in both Europe and the United States in recent years.
A Vatican spokesman said there would be no immediate comment. An ICC official referred inquiries to the prosecutor, whose office was also not immediately available for comment.
