Torture, Crimes Against Humanity and the Abuse of International Law

Ronald J. Rychlak

doi:10.21697/CSP.2020.24.1.23

Published: 2020-05-12

No. 24 (2020)

Torture, Crimes Against Humanity and the Abuse of International Law

Ronald J. Rychlak

Christianity-World-Politics

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.21697/CSP.2020.24.1.23

Abstract

In 2014, United Nations Committee Against Torture raised the possibility that the Vatican’s handling of sexual abuse cases involving Catholic priests constituted torture under international law. A victims group even filed a petition with the International Criminal Court accusing Pope Benedict XIV and other Church officials of “crimes against humanity” and urged that they be prosecuted for their alleged role in the crimes.

Without defending the perpetrators of the abuse, this paper argues that the identified cases do not meet the legal standards to constitute either torture or crimes against humanity under international law. While those individuals who are guilty of abuse should be punished, neither they nor the Church officials who dealt with them (or failed to do so) are responsible for torture or crimes against humanity. Arguments to the contrary have been advanced in bad faith.

Keywords:

juvenile harassment, rape, torture, the Catholic Church

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Rychlak, R. J. (2020). Torture, Crimes Against Humanity and the Abuse of International Law. Christianity-World-Politics, (24), 116–141. https://doi.org/10.21697/CSP.2020.24.1.23

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Ronald J. Rychlak

burgonski@onet.eu
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1951-9377

Affiliation:

University of Mississippi School of Law United States

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Ronald J. Rychlak is the Jamie P. Whitten Chair of Law & Government at the University of Mississippi School of Law and member of the Board of Directors at Ave Maria Law School. He serves on the Mississippi Advisory Committee to the US Civil Rights Commission, the executive committee of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and as an advisor to the Holy See’s mission to the United Nations. Along with Jane Adolphe, he is the co-editor of The Persecution and Genocide of Christians in the Middle East: Prevention, Prohibition, Prosecution (Angelico Press, 2017).