The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Holy See (more commonly known as the Vatican) can be held liable in civil lawsuits for priest abuse. The ruling held that a priest is essentially an employee of the Vatican under the Respondeat Superior theory, which is a Latin phrase meaning “Let the master answer. Essentially, it holds that an employer is responsible for the actions of an employee if those actions were within the scope of employment.
This particular case involves a deceased Catholic priest, Andrew Ronan, who was transferred from Ireland after molesting boys there. He wound up in Chicago where he continued to molest.
This marks the first time in the history of the Catholic priest sexual abuse crisis that the Vatican has been successfully held liable for the actions of a Catholic priest.
The hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church certainly makes the legal case especially since the Vatican has, from time to time issued secret directivesconcerning the handling of priest pedophiles. While we’ve known for years that the secrecy and coverup has its origins in the Vatican, we’ve not been able to obtain the Vatican documents or question Catholic Church leaders in the Vatican about such cases of sex abuse.