BishopAccountability.org
	Case against Vatican in Sex Abuse Lawsuit Outlined MyStateLine April 22, 2010 http://mystateline.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=155835 [the complaint] [Documents regarding Murphy which were sent to the Vatican] [victim's letter to the Vatican] (Minneapolis, MN) -- A legal volley has been fired by an Illinois man who claims he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest while a student at a deaf school for children in Milwaukee. The suit filed in U.S. District Court alleges Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict, for years covered up hundreds of cases of abuse by a now-deceased Wisconsin priest. Attorney Jeff Anderson contends senior Vatican officials also had a secret policy of refusing to cooperate with law enforcement officials on such matters. Anderson has released court documents appearing to indicate the Pope's involvement in the case surrounding Reverend Joseph Murphy stems from when he was then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany. Anderson alleges Ratzinger and other top Vatican officials sought to stop the effort to defrock Murphy in connection with the sexual abuse allegations. Anderson told reporters they felt a moral obligation to filed the lawsuit. He says the victims want action "that does and will protect the kids." The lawyer says the top officials at the Vatican are named in the lawsuit "because they are at the top of the pyramid that requires secrecy." A 1994 letter from one deaf victim implored the Vatican and the late Pope John Paul the Second to excommunicate Murphy for his crimes. Anderson says there was no response from Rome and that the request from a deaf man essentially, quote, "fell on deaf ears." Before his death, Murphy admitted he had molested many children. He wrote to Ratzinger asking for mercy and stating he had repented for his "transgressions."
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