Sex Abuse ‘Victim’ Seeks Legal Action against Pope, Other Vatican Officials
An alleged victim of a Catholic priest who is accused of sexually abusing hundreds of children in the US over several decades, has sought legal action against Pope Benedict XVI and other senior Vatican officials, said media reports.
Counsel for the victim said that he was taking legal action against the pope, his second-in-command Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, for failing to dismiss the priest, reports said.
Talking to media in St Paul in the mid-west state of Minnesota, Jeff Anderson, the counsel, said that the plaintiff was initiating a federal lawsuit against the three men for not dismissing Father Lawrence Murphy, said reports.
A Wisconsin priest, Murphy is alleged to have molested nearly 200 deaf children at a renowned Wisconsin school from 1950 to 1974, when he was sacked after being accused of sex offences against minors. He has since died.
According to Anderson, the alleged victim sent certified letters to the Vatican in 1995 asking for defrocking Murphy but he got no reply, reports said.
News of the lawsuit came as the Catholic Church in Ireland was shaken by the resignation of James Moriarty, the third Irish bishop to stand down over the clerical child abuse there.
(Based on internet reports)
