70 Belgian sex abuse victims to sue Vatican

BRUSSELS (AP) — A group of 70 people claiming to be sexual abuse victims of clergy will take Vatican and Belgian church officials to court, claiming they offered them insufficient protection from pedophile priests.

Lawyer Walter Van Steenbrugge said Friday he will lodge the complaint in about two weeks. He said religious officials, including the pope, had failed to take proper action to prevent such abuse.

The Belgian church got involved in a major abuse scandal last year when Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe was forced to resign after he admitted he abused for 13 years his young nephew. Later, hundreds of victims came forward with tales of abuse by clergy going back decades.

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Vatican sanctions Belgian bishop who abused nephew

Belga archives, AFP/Getty Images

A December 1984 photo of Bishop Roger Vangheluwe. He tendered his resignation amid speculation of phedophilia.

EnlargeCloseBelga archives, AFP/Getty Images

A December 1984 photo of Bishop Roger Vangheluwe. He tendered his resignation amid speculation of phedophilia.

The Vatican on Tuesday clarified the punishment against the former Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe after Belgian bishops reported over the weekend that he had merely been sent outside Belgium for spiritual and psychological counseling, a seemingly cushy punishment given the seriousness of the crime.

The decision was the first known application of the Vatican

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