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	Ky Lawsuit Seeks to Question Pope under Oath By Bennett Haeberle FOX 41 March 31, 2010 http://www.fox41.com/Global/story.asp?S=12231292 [with video] KENTUCKY -- Vatican attorneys are working to protect Pope Benedict XVI from being deposed in a Kentucky lawsuit that claims the Vatican and its clergy were responsible for covering up cases of priest sex abuse. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Louisville in 2004, claims the pontiff "has extensive knowledge" and was "intimately and uniquely tied to the issue of child sexual abuse by the clergy." The class-action litigation has been ongoing for years, but stalled until recently. Attorney William McMurry, who claims his lawsuit includes "all victims of priest abuse", says Pope Benedict XVI should be deposed because of his unique knowledge of the priest sex abuse cases. From 1981 to 2005, Benedict, then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, oversaw the section of the Vatican that directly dealt with cases of priest sex abuse. Vatican attorneys plan to file their defense soon, claiming Pope Benedict XVI is immune from the litigation because he's a head of state. McMurry rejects that argument. "It's not that we want to take his deposition because he is the pope or the head of the church," he said in a phone interview. "We want to take his deposition because he is a fact witness." McMurry claims the Vatican and its clergy are responsible for failing to protect children from abuse and trying to cover it up. "There are documents that date back to the 1800s that enforce secrecy on bishops of priest sex abuse," he said. Jeff Koenig, a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says he thinks the pontiff should be deposed. "It's very difficult for me to be in a church of any kind, just the eeriness," he said. "My innocence, my spirituality. I have serious issues when I see the Roman collar. Because every time that the former priest Dan Clark abused me, he was in his Roman collar. "I would like to urge any victim to stand up now," Koenig said. "Now is the time to have your voice heard." A report by the Associated Press says Vatican attorneys plan to file their arguments in the coming weeks, but Vatican officials would not comment on the case.
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