Dr. John Morss, an international law expert from Deakin and La Trobe University, has stated that he believes the Pope is not the head of a foreign state in relation to Australia, despite the Vatican’s claims of statehood. This view has not been tested in court before, and Morss believes that Australia would be taking a new approach if they were to challenge the Vatican’s immunity based on its statehood status. Barrister Geoffrey Robertson, author of The Case Against the Pope, has also raised questions about the Vatican’s statehood status, calling it an anomaly and pointing out that it lacks many requirements of a traditional state.
The legal status of the Vatican as an entity with “the resemblance to statehood” was established in the 1929 Lateran Treaty between Italy’s fascist leader Benito Mussolini and Pope Pius XI. This treaty recognized papal sovereignty over the Vatican City while Italy recognized the state of Italy with Rome as its capital. Since 1973, the Australian government has acknowledged papal sovereignty by sending ambassadors to both Italy and the Holy See. Recent decisions, such as the 2021 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, have upheld the Vatican’s claim to foreign state immunity.
In a Victorian case involving two Aboriginal men who were allegedly abused by a priest named Glennon between 1983 and 1990, questions have been raised about the role of the Pope and the Vatican in addressing clerical abuse. Former Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart testified at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about the delays in defrocking Glennon, with Archbishop George Pell finally convincing Pope John Paul II to issue a decree stripping Glennon of his status as an ordained priest in 1999. The lawyer for the two men, Angela Sdrinis, believes that Pope Francis should be held accountable for John Paul II’s inaction during that time.
Sdrinis argues that the legal defense used by the Catholic Church, such as the Ellis defense, to avoid direct accountability for clerical abuse is problematic. The Ellis defense was previously used to protect the Church’s assets from damages claims and deter victims of child sexual abuse from seeking remedies through the courts. She believes that the Pope should be a defendant in the case and answer the allegations against him directly. The case is scheduled to return to court in August for a directions hearing.
Pope Francis has previously urged the church to undergo a “humble and ongoing purification” to atone for historic clerical abuse. However, questions remain about the moral and legal responsibility of the Pope and the Vatican in addressing cases of clerical abuse. Geoffrey Robertson and Dr. John Morss have raised concerns about the Vatican’s assumed statehood and immunity, calling it into question. The ongoing controversy surrounding the Vatican’s statehood status and its implications for legal accountability in cases of clerical abuse continue to be debated among international lawyers and experts in the field.
