State Department Serves Vatican With Court Papers On Behalf of Clergy Abuse Plaintiff

In a press release yesterday, plaintiffs' attorney in John Doe 16 v. Holy See, announced that the State Department had served process by diplomatic means on the Vatican in a lawsuit pending in a Wisconsin federal court charging the Pope and two high-ranking cardinals with covering up sexual abuse by a priest in the 1960's at a Catholic school for the deaf in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (See prior posting.)  The summons and complaint was accompanied by a diplomatic note (full text) from the State Department to the Vatican. AP reports on developments. [Thanks to Religion News Service for the lead.]