Vatican releases internal files on alleged abuser

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican, reeling from unprecedented

criticism over its handling of sexual abuse cases in Ireland, took

the unusual step Wednesday of publishing its internal files about a

priest accused of molesting youngsters in Ireland and the

U.S.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

The files published on the website of Vatican Radio are part of the

documentation the Holy See plans to turn over to U.S. lawyers

representing a man who says he was abused by the late Rev. Andrew

Ronan. The man, known in court papers as John V. Doe, is seeking to

hold the Vatican liable for the abuse.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

A federal judge in Portland, Oregon ordered the Vatican to respond

to certain requests for information from Doe’s lawyers by Friday,

the first time the Holy See has been forced to turn over

documentation in a sex abuse case. The documentation includes the

1966 case file with Ronan’s request to be laicized, or removed from

the clerical state, after his superiors learned of accusations that

he had molested minors in Ireland.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

The Vatican said Wednesday that the documentation culled from the

Vatican’s internal personnel files proved that it had only learned

of the accusations against Ronan in 1966, after the abuse against

Doe occurred.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

The Vatican’s decision to publish a selection of the discovery

documentation on its website comes amid unprecedented criticism of

its handling of sex abuse cases in Ireland, and as it still seeks

to recover from the fallout over the abuse scandal that erupted

last year. Thousands of people in Europe and elsewhere reported

they were raped and molested by priests as children while bishops

covered up the crimes and the Vatican turned a blind

eye.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

Last month, an independent report into the Irish diocese of Cloyne

accused the Vatican of sabotaging efforts by Irish Catholic bishops

to report clerical sex abuse cases to police. The accusations

prompted Irish lawmakers to make an unprecedented denunciation of

the Holy See’s influence in the predominantly Catholic country,

with heated words in particular from Prime Minister Enda

Kenny.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

In a statement accompanying the document release Wednesday, Vatican

attorney Jeffrey Lena said the Vatican’s documentation should help

“calm down those people who are too quick to make sensational and

unfair comments without taking the time to get an adequate

understanding of the facts” – an apparent reference to Kenny’s

denunciation.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

The Vatican recalled its ambassador to Ireland over the ruckus to

help prepare an official response, which is expected in the coming

weeks.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

According to the Holy See, the documentation released Wednesday

includes the 1966 case file held by the Vatican’s office for

members of religious orders, known at the time as the Sacred

Congregation for Religious, containing documents in English,

Italian and Latin related to Ronan’s request to be

laicized.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

The file contains a letter written by the Chicago-based provincial

of the Order of Servants of Mary detailing accusations that Ronan

had abused students while he was a teacher at the Servites’ Our

Lady of Benburb Priory in Ireland.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

The provincial wrote that he had “removed” Ronan immediately from

Ireland after discovering the abuse accusations in 1959. Ronan

began working in Chicago and was later transferred to Portland. He

died in 1992.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

Lena said in a statement that the files show that the Holy See

didn’t learn of the accusations against Ronan until 1966, after the

abuse against Doe occurred in Portland and after the laicization

request was sent to Rome.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

He said the Vatican was releasing “all known documents relating to

Ronan held by the Roman Curia” to help the Oregon court determine

the remaining jurisdictional question in the case: whether Ronan

was an employee of the Holy See, which is critical to determining

whether the Vatican can be held liable for the abuse Doe

endured.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

None of the documents released Wednesday relate directly to that

core employment question. Rather, they support the Vatican’s

contention that it had no prior knowledge of Ronan’s crimes before

1966, that it wasn’t responsible for transferring him to the U.S.

or to Portland, and isn’t liable for the abuse Doe

suffered.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

Lena said Doe’s attorney, Jeffrey Anderson, never had any evidence

to support his “calumnious accusations” that the Vatican itself had

transferred Ronan to Portland while knowing that he posed a danger

to minors.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

Doe’s lawyers, Lena said “have nonetheless chosen to misuse the

legal system as a vehicle to pursue a broader agenda – a decision

that has misled the public and wasted considerable

resources.”

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

Anderson has filed hundreds of lawsuits against priests and

dioceses in the U.S. concerning priestly sex abuse; in addition to

the Portland case he has named the Holy See as a defendant in two

other U.S. lawsuits, in Milwaukee and Chicago.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

Email requests seeking comment from Anderson weren’t immediately

returned.

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

—

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

Online:

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>

Vatican documentation is at: 

“text-decoration: none; color: #000066;” href=

“-blank”>http://www.radiovaticana.va/pdf/documents-Doe-v-Holy-See.pdf

“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>

“text-decoration: none; color: #000066;” rel=”item-license” name=

redistributed. Learn more about our

“text-decoration: none; color: #000066;” href=

Policy and 

href=”http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/terms”>Terms of Use.