Ky lawsuit seeks to question Pope under oath

KENTUCKY
FOX 41
[with video]
By Bennett Haeberle WDRB-TV Fox 41 News

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.

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