The Case of the Pope

by Geoffrey Robertson

Overview

In The Case of the Pope Geoffrey Robertson delivers a devastating indictment of the way the Vatican has run a secret legal system that shields pedophile priests from criminal trial around the world. Is the Pope morally or legally responsible for the negligence that has allowed so many terrible crimes to go unpunished? Should he and his seat of power, the Holy See, continue to enjoy an immunity that places them above the law? Geoffrey Robertson , a distinguished human rights lawyer and judge, evinces a deep respect for the good works of Catholics and their church. But, he argues, unless Pope Benedict XVI can divest himself of the beguilements of statehood and devotion to obsolescent canon law, the Vatican will remain a serious enemy to the advance of human rights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780241953846
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/26/2010
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Geoffrey Robertson is founder and head of Doughty Street Chambers, the largest human rights practice in the UK. He has appeared in the courts of many countries as counsel in leading cases in constitutional, criminal, and international law and served as the first President of the UN War Crimes Court in Sierra Leone, where he authored a landmark decision on the illegality of recruiting child soldiers. He defended in the last two cases brought for blasphemy in Britain (against Salman Rushdie and Gay News), represented Catholic lawyers and youth workers detained without trial by Lee Kwan Yew, and was counsel in Bowman v United Kingdom, which established the right of Catholics to campaign effectively against abortion laws during elections. He sits as a recorder and as a master of Middle Temple and a visiting professor of human rights law at Queen Mary College. In 2008, he was appointed as a distinguished jurist member of the UN Justice Council. His books include Crimes Against Humanity: The Struggle for Global Justice, The Justice Game, and The Tyrannicide Brief, as well as a memoir.

Table of Contents

1 Suffer the Little Children 1

2 Sins of the Fathers 14

3 Canon Law 42

4 The Lateran Treaty 63

5 The Statehood Test 79

6 The Holy See and the United Nations 96

7 The Convention on the Rights of the Child 112

8 A Case to Answer? 121

9 Crimes Against Humanity 134

10 Can the Pope be Sued? 151

11 Reflections 163

Appendix A A bishop on the stand 175

Appendix B Extracts from Crimen Sollicitationis 189

Appendix C Extracts from Sacramentorum sanctitatus tutela: Apostolic letter from Cardinal Ratzinger (2001) 198

Appendix D de gravioribus delictis (July 2010) 201

Bibliography 205

Notes 214

Editorial Reviews

"Robertson is an adept QC and this is a devastating case."  —Daily Telegraph


"Combines moral passion with steely forensic precision. . . It is one of the most formidable demolition jobs one could imagine on a man who has done more to discredit the cause of religion than Rasputin and Pat Robertson put together."  —Guardian


"Forceful, wide-ranging."  —Tablet


"Robertson has not become a successful lawyer by muddling his arguments and distorting his facts. . . He writes clearly, at times passionately, as counsel for the prosecution."  —Financial Times

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