US sex abuse lawsuit against Vatican dismissed

VATICAN CITY — Lawyers for a man who was sexually abused decades ago by a priest at a Wisconsin school for the deaf have asked a court to dismiss their lawsuit naming Pope Benedict XVI and other top Vatican officials as defendants.

Attorney Jeff Anderson filed the lawsuit in 2010, claiming former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and his deputies knew about allegations of sexual abuse at the school and protected the priest from punishment.

Anderson's firm filed a motion Friday in Milwaukee to dismiss the case. He says the main thing he was seeking was information and accountability, and he's already received 30,000 pages of revealing documents through bankruptcy proceedings of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Vatican attorney Jeffrey Lena calls the explanation "ridiculous." He says it's confirmation the lawsuit should never have been filed.

[Carol Raphael BROSN]

Jeffrey Lena correctly states that Mr. Anderson's lawsuit should have never been filed. The historical record shows that there was no case.