Pope Benedict XVI Sued For Not Wearing Seat Belt In Popemobile During Visit To Germany (UPDATE)

It turns out not even the Pope is infallible when it comes to seat belt safety.

A German citizen has filed a lawsuit against Pope Benedict XVI after spotting the leader traveling in the Popemobile without a safety belt during his September visit to the German town of Freiburg, according to the International Business Times. The man from Dortmund is urging the Pope be fined 2,500 euros (about $3,307) for disobeying the rules requiring safety belts.

An English translation of a report in the Westfalischen Rundschau newspaper reveals the suit states the Catholic figurehead, identified as Joseph Ratzinger, did not wear his seat belt on several occasions for an extended period of time, according to The Local.

Freiburg has confirmed that a lawsuit had been filed, the Dogan News Agency reports. Attorney Johannes Christian Sundermann placed the complaint on behalf of the citizen.

The lawsuit calls Baden-Wurttemberg Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann and Archbishop Robert Zolltisch as witnesses to the incident, the International Business Times reports.

However, it remains unclear whether the Pope would be held accountable to the law because of his German citizenship or if "he enjoys diplomatic immunity as the head of a foreign state," according to the Religious News Service.

The Popemobile, which travels at an average speed of about 6 mph, contains seat belts, Sky News points out. The person who filed the suit is reportedly not Catholic.

UPDATE:

Niels C. Sorrells
Religion News Service

BERLIN (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI can cross an outstanding charge of failing to use a seatbelt from his list of worries.

The southern German city of Freiburg on Wednesday (Nov. 30) threw out charges against the pontiff for riding in his popemobile without a seatbelt during a September visit.

"There will be no fine for the pope," city spokeswoman Edith Lamersdorf, told the daily Badische Zeitung. "The charges were quashed."

Although there is a requirement in Germany to wear seatbelts, even in slow-moving vehicles, city officials ruled that the law didn't apply in the pope's case because the street on which he was spotted without a seatbelt had been closed for public traffic the day of his visit.

Attorney Christian Sundermann had filed the complaint on behalf of an unnamed German resident of Dortmund. Freiburg was Benedict's last stop during his September visit to his native Germany.

The unnamed plaintiff argued that the pope was seen several times during the visit without a seat belt. The complaint offered several eyewitnesses, including the archbishop of Freiburg, the head of the German Conference of Bishops and the premier of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Sundermann's office had also entered a YouTube clip of the visit, which shows Benedict touring in a German-made Mercedes-Benz popemobile as possible evidence.

If found guilty, the pope could have faced fines of between 30 and 2,500 euros ($40 to $3,340).

Both the attorney and the plaintiff have said the move to press charges was not an attack on the church, but rather an effort to raise awareness of the seat belt law and increase enforcement.

Comments

[Gerard St Laurent]

07:37 PM on 05/22/2012

Make him pay a fine.

[Greg Upshur]

09:53 PM on 11/30/2011

HE SHOULD HAVE HAD HIS SEATBELTS ON IN HIS EARCANDY.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=A3RmNmA-j_E

[One more Thing]

09:36 AM on 11/29/2011

The Pope needs to practice wearing seat belts because on his next visit to the U.S. he might want to reach out to NASCAR or NHRA fans by doing a lap or a drag.

[Pine Island Joe]

07:27 AM on 11/29/2011

This guy is obviolusly a "jerk."

[havanodo]

07:01 AM on 11/29/2011

This has nothing to do with seat belt laws. This is two people looking for their picture in the paper and some attention. Like kids crying at home. Hope the powers to be put them in their place.

[firstamendment3]

06:20 AM on 11/29/2011

If the Catholic Church really stood for truth, the Popemobile would be known as th Gropemobile....

[yovinny100]

06:14 AM on 11/29/2011

This is one reason why people hate lawyers and the court system. Frivolous law suits clog up court dockets around the world, apparently. I'm no fan of the pope or the catholic church, being a former catholic and current pagan baby, but this guy clearly has an agenda.

The judge in charge of hearing this case needs to take this guy into his chambers, box his ears and tell him to go home and stop wasting everyones time.

[quixmar]

05:17 AM on 11/29/2011

Sue the Pope? Over not wearing a seatbelt?? Now that I know you can sue people for no seatbetls, I'm going to start a cottage business at the corner writing down license plate numbers of violators and going to court! Woo Hoo! Catch just one guy per day, x 365 days a year x $3,307 = 1,207,055.00 a year!

As for the Pope? They'll throw out the suit because he "Answers to an even higher authority."

[Hayek89]

08:04 PM on 11/30/2011

Actually, they will throw it out because he is a head of state and his diplomatic immunity.

[fine7760]

03:16 AM on 11/29/2011

Its all to clear these people who post anti-Catholic messages have no idea what the church stands for and are only bigoted when it comes to something different to them. Will they ever forget about a few priests who violated their vows? When this all came to light many of those who were accused had passed away and were not able to protect their good names. Nothing was ever proved against these people, only allegations. Those that were still alive were removed and defrocked if the allegations proved true. It seems funny that some of those who condemn the Catholic Churches are defending the people involved in the Penn State scandal. Those that knew that coach was hurting those young boys for years did nothing except report it to someone else at the university and it went no further. There were no reported incidents in the Catholic Church where someone observed a boy being molested and it was hidden. Its OK to attack the Church but lets not attack Penn State where a coach runs his pedophile ring openly for years using and selling boys to the highest bidder.

[bonnieb333]

04:59 AM on 11/29/2011

Whoa! You go off on a tangent about anti-Catholic messages and the "bigots" who "won't ever forget about the few priests who violated their vows."

Wow! Are you off base. First of all, it wasn't just a "few" priests who violated children. Many priests were guilty of this. They weren't "removed and defrocked." The church moved them from parrish to parrish, trying to cover up the "allegations" which proved to be true. You must be living in a twilight zone and are as guilty as many other Catholics who have turned their back to the reality of some of the real sins the church has been guilty of.

[fine7760]

11:15 AM on 11/29/2011

This story was about Pope Benedict not wearing a seat belt. Instead of commenting about that, it turned into an attack on the Catholic Church.

How many of these priests were convicted and sent to prison? Very few because most of the allegations were reported long after the priests had passed away and could not defend their names. Priests are moved from parish to parish depending on the needs of the church. Compared to the overall problem of child abuse the amount of allegations against Catholic priests is minimal . Just in Los Angeles, LAUSD (school district) has approx. 500 teachers at any one time are pulled from the classroom and must report to the district headquarters each day due to allegations of child molestation. This is just one school district in the U.S. How many more school districts are doing the same? Its been covered up for years but was a big story here last year. Every week there are story's in the news about school teachers molesting their students. Boy Scouts, Boys Club, YMCA, etc. have all had problems with child molestation.

Were there cover-ups? Yes, but most of the scandal involved deceased priests and were allegations only. When the reports started coming in there were those that saw a pot of gold and knowing the person they were accusing was dead seemed like a good way to make some money.

[fine7760]

11:15 AM on 11/29/2011

pt 2
I see the scandal at Penn state far more disturbing. The molestations were observed and nothing happened. Plus it has been reported not only was the coach molesting these boys but he was pimping them out. And what are we seeing but people defending the university and its former head coach. That is the big difference. Where we have allegations of child abuse by Catholic priest, in the case of Penn State, multiple actual observations by university employees and the coach was protected for years.

[qsfoxx]

05:51 AM on 11/29/2011

"A few priests?" Apparently you believe whatever you are told to believe.

[fine7760]

11:17 AM on 11/29/2011

Compared to the overall problem, yes, a few.

[AmagaiBluWave]

02:39 AM on 11/29/2011

This story and lawsuit lacks one important detail...COMMON SENSE!

God Loves You. :)

[mcnal]

02:32 AM on 11/29/2011

The Poop POPE should put a belt over his big stupid mouth

[mcnal]

02:13 AM on 11/29/2011

Maybe he ate too much Sour Kraut :)

[Brian Childers]

01:48 AM on 11/29/2011

The pope smokes dope.

[Daniel Wyatt]

01:36 AM on 11/29/2011

Hitler stood up in cars and the Kaiser stood up in carraiges.

[rebel0498]

02:44 AM on 11/29/2011

I doubt that the Kaiser's carriage had seat belts and I don't believe the seat belt law was in effect during Hitler's time.

[rebel0498]

01:11 AM on 11/29/2011

Nice to know that not all nuts live in the USA. Reading some posts I was starting to wonder.