US court won't review Vatican Bank Holocaust suit

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US court won't review Vatican Bank Holocaust suit

Postby emad » Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:58 pm

<br>17 Jan 2006 15:23:52 GMT<br><br>Source: Reuters<br> <br>By James Vicini<br><br>WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Holocaust survivors on Tuesday to proceed with a lawsuit claiming that the Vatican Bank and a Franciscan religious order profited from property stolen by Croatia's pro-Nazi World War Two government.<br><br>The justices declined to review a ruling by a U.S. appeals court that reinstated the suit, which claimed the Order of Friars Minor conspired with the Vatican Bank to facilitate the transfer of gold and other looted valuable assets.<br><br>The Holocaust survivors filed the lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco in 1999 accusing the defendants of receiving property stolen from victims of Croatia's brutal Ustasha regime from 1941 to 1945. As many as 700,000 people, mostly Serbs, were killed at death camps run by the regime.<br><br>The lawsuit claimed that the stolen property was used after the war to help Nazi war criminals escape from Europe to South America. The class-action lawsuit seeks compensation for the monetary losses suffered by Holocaust survivors.<br><br>The Vatican Bank, the financial arm of the Roman Catholic Church, and the religious order founded by St. Francis of Assisi have denied the claims.<br><br>A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2003 on the grounds that the claims involved questions that should be handled by the executive or legislative branches of the U.S. government, not by the courts.<br><br>But the appeals court disagreed and ruled the case could go forward, even if the claims involved foreign relations and potentially controversial issues.<br><br>Attorneys for the Order of Friars Minor and Vatican Bank appealed to the Supreme Court. They argued that resolution of Holocaust-era claims was an issue of foreign relations constitutionally committed to the political branches of the U.S. government, not the courts.<br><br>The Vatican Bank's attorneys said the appeals court's ruling threatened "to disrupt the nation's foreign affairs."<br><br>Attorneys for the Holocaust survivors replied that the appeals should be rejected.<br><br>They said there were "no compelling reasons or extraordinary circumstances" warranting high court review of the case. They said judicial review of wartime property losses does not pose any threat to U.S. foreign relations.<br><br>The Supreme Court rejected the appeals without any comment or recorded dissent. <br><br> <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N09183396.htm">www.alertnet.org/thenews/...183396.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: US court won't review Vatican Bank Holocaust suit

Postby StarmanSkye » Tue Jan 17, 2006 3:28 pm

"Attorneys for the Order of Friars Minor and Vatican Bank appealed to the Supreme Court. They argued that resolution of Holocaust-era claims was an issue of foreign relations constitutionally committed to the political branches of the U.S. government, not the courts."<br><br>That's rich -- As IF this issue of Nazi-era stolen equity and assets controlled by the Order of Friars Minor and Vatican Bank for over fifty years is something the Vatican has a keen interest in resolving and have been dilgently (and urgently) seeking to return to their original owners and heirs. The Vatican argued that the office of Pope as a Head of State with diplomatic immunity couldn't be sued for damages relating to complicity in covering-up a history of child-abuse in the US by Church officials (and also argued that Church assets are locally owned and managed, not linked) -- this seems a related strategy, claiming the Vatican is an International, sovereign Government that like the US Government can't be sued in a court of Civil Law that it isn't a subject of.<br><br>This seems an extension of a global trend, as corporations and the ruling elites, governments and officials maneuver to further consolidate their traditional immunity from being held accountable by law for their morally-challenged and ethically-questionable actions -- the operant principle apparently being that they don't play by the same 'ordinary' rules as the plebes -- OR, as in the case with gummint/political goons and Church officials, they have been serving the 'greater good' according to the ethical calculus of ends justify means. I guess the Vatican holds that their mission of 'saving souls' and doing God's (Catholic) Work is better-served by the Vatican holding on to stolen property (ie., the stolen property is put to 'better' use by the Church than it would be by their rightful owners.)<br><br>It sure seems to me that as long as the Church contests this claim that it forfeits ALL moral authority as a representative or agency of God -- and this apparant greed and egoism and vanity that reflects Church official's preoccupation with the trappings of wealth and power (feeding self-aggrandizement and sense of self-importance) should be seen as a major contributing factor in the cover-up of pedophile priests -- there's a supreme contemptuous arrogance there, not only in being untruthful and duplicious, but in acting to shield itself from the legal threat of forfeitting its assets for damages and compensation. I dunno, but it seems to me that if the Church is to salvage its rep it needs to divest itself of most of its wealth (re: returning property and paying damages, perhaps even contributing to education funds and/or community aid-charities, etc.), making a public show of accepting true poverty as a genuine 'servant' of God, perhaps --or especially-- appropriate re: Catholic concept of sincerity and demonstrating it by self-sacrifice and doing public 'penance'. I mean, after all, the Catholic Church is big on 'suffering' and 'paying' for one's sins -- so wouldn't it be entirely appropriate for the Church as a whole to suffer and pay for ITs 'sins'? A LOT of people would probably say that's entirely reasonable, and even necessary for the Church not to be seen as self-serving and hypocritical -- like, put yer money where yer mouth is fer Chisakes!!!<br><br>And yet, that's STILL not addressing the isasue of the Vatican aiding the Nazi Ratlines, or linkeage with European rightwing despot-regimes and 'other' financial scams and double-dealing and rackets -- much of it made possible (even necessary) because the Church hasn't been finicky about whether its money is dirty.<br><br>I mean -- the Church running Bingo halls?! (Surely, one of it's 'lesser' sins). Somehow, I think Jesus would be groaning -- that is, if he isn't laughing his ass off at the sheer assinine tragicomic idiocy of the Vatican/Church pimping itself as as a supremely-connected Fortune 500 Company-Country. (I wonder if the Church is invested in the Defense Industry).<br>Starman<br> <p></p><i></i>
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