Pope served summons: Crimes against humanity, child abuse, trafficking

“Our Tribunal has been sponsored by groups of survivors of Catholic church torture in five countries, and is securing legal and political support around the world. Joseph Ratzinger cannot evade the fact that he is personally liable for aiding and abetting child rapists within his church.” – Kevin Annett, Sept 20, 2010

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A Public Summons to Pope Benedict was delivered today at the residence of the Vatican Ambassador to England in south London. Human rights defender, the former United Church of Canada minister noted for taking Christ’s teachings to heart, Rev. Kevin Annette delivered the summons after leading a 20,000 people protest this weekend against the Pope for alleged complicity in crimes against humanity, child abuse and trafficking.

The Summons was issued by the newly-formed International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State, that has asked Pope Benedict to appear before its opening hearing on April 4, 2011 in London. Rev. Annett delivered the Summons to the Papal Nuncio office on behalf of the Tribunal.

The Summons asks the Pope to respond to charges that he is complicit in crimes against humanity, child abuse and trafficking, and that he has failed to respond to inquiries into the deaths of more than 50,000 children in church-run Indian residential schools in Canada. (see a copy of the Summons, below)

An attempt was made to hand the Summons to the Pope on September 18 before mass at Westminster Cathedral in London. While security measures prevented a personal delivery, the Summons was read aloud and posted publicly near the Cathedral.

“I would be surprised if the Pope ignored this Summons, since it carries the weight of international opinion and morality” said Rev. Annett today.

“Our Tribunal has been sponsored by groups of survivors of Catholic church torture in five countries, and is securing legal and political support around the world. Joseph Ratzinger cannot evade the fact that he is personally liable for aiding and abetting child rapists within his church.”

Following on a similar Tribunal into crimes of the church in 1998 sponsored by a United Nations affiliate, the April Tribunal will be the first international forum to bring actual charges against the Pope and the Vatican.

The Tribunal comes in the wake of a massive protest against the Pope of nearly 20,000 people in London Saturday, in which Rev. Annett and Tribunal members participated. Annett was interviewed by major media including Reuters, Sky News and LBC radio, as part of a month long speaking tour he is conducting in Europe to build support for the Tribunal.

Rev. Annett is Secretary of The Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada that was established September 3, 2000, in Vancouver, BC, from a mandate arising from the IHRAAM Tribunal into Canadian Residential Schools, June 12-14, 1998, Vancouver. He is author of Hidden from History: The Canadian Holocaust (February 2001), and Love and Death in the Valley (First Books, November 2002)

He has been severely persecuted for his actions to defend the voiceless including Canadian First Nation Peoples.

Rev. Annett was assaulted in January by two men in Vancouver’s downtown eastside two days after he published an article on church and government complicity in child trafficking on Canada’s west coast. He suffered cuts, bruises, and at least one broken rib as a result of the unprovoked beating by two men, one of whom is linked to a downtown church agency.

Annett then rapidly released a new article on the role of Vancouver police in sex crimes. (
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2010/01/kevin-annett-canadas-police-involved-in.html)

Annett is no longer with the United Churc after “thrown out of there in 1997 because of my efforts to expose their crimes against native children,” he told the Examiner.

Rev. Annett and this campaign are based in London. For more information, please contact his press officer, Anna Bragga, at 07861677343 or consciencecommunications@gmail.com .

Originally posted on Examiner

Cause No. ITCCS – 001 – 2011 UK, Docket 001 A

PUBLIC SUMMONS

To: Joseph Ratzinger, aka “The Pope” and Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church

BE ADVISED that you have been listed as a primary witness in an adjudication of a matter before this Court, which is a Tribunal of International and Indigenous Judges. Your presence is hereby requested on Monday, April 4, 2011 at 10:00 am, at a location to be disclosed, in the City of London, England.

Said Tribunal is convened pursuant to international Law, indigenous tribal Law, the Rule of Natural Law and the Law of Nations. Your presence is required to participate in the examination of issues and questions regarding the following matters and charges:

1. Your responsibility and liability as head of the Roman Catholic Church for the crimes of genocide, murder, warfare, forced removal from traditional lands, slave labour, institutionalized racism, theft of resources, child trafficking and pedophilia, and other crimes against indigenous peoples and children, arising from the Indian Residential School system in Canada established and maintained by Roman Catholic Church and the government of Canada.

2. Your failure to reply or respond to a public Letter of Demand issued to you from the Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared dated February 4, 2008, asking that you identify the burial sites and cause of death of children who died in Indian Residential Schools in Canada established and run by your church.

3. Your promulgation and enforcement of a policy of concealing and denying violence and rape against children within your Church, and your practice of actively concealing, protecting and aiding and abetting child rapists and other criminals within your Church, and of thereby perpetrating an international obstruction of justice.

You may desire to consult with your attorney in regards to this matter, or have an advocate attend the hearings with you. You may submit written documents and materials, but be advised that they do not carry the same weight, or can substitute for or replace, your personal testimony.

BE ADVISED that any failure by you to respond to this PUBLIC SUMMONS, or failure to attend this Tribunal, can be interpreted to mean that you do not dispute the charges made against you laid forth in this document and by witnesses and other material, and may result in a verdict against you made in absentia.

Due to the Nation to Nation status of this issue, involving the original Nations of the North American continent as holders of Allodial Title, and its concern with matters concerning internationally recognized Crimes against Humanity, this Tribunal and its findings will be monitored by human rights specialists and representatives of governments, International agencies, indigenous Nations and the public media.

This Tribunal will be open to the public and the media. Its officers will submit its findings in the form of a final comprehensive report to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Criminal Court, and other bodies.

Duly Signed and Delivered this 18th Day of September, in the year 2010, in the City of London,

(signed in the original)

Royce White Calf, Elder

Oglala Lakota Nation

Acting Secretary, The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State

American Section: c/o 1000 Walker St., Unit 223, Holly Hill, Florida USA 32117

ITCCS Communication 002 2011 UK, Docket 002