Rome Police Detain 4 US Church Abuse Victims, Washington Post, March 25, 2010

Rome Police Detain 4 US Church Abuse Victims

Washington Post
March 25, 2010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032500936.html

John Pilmaier from Milwaukee, left, and Peter Isely of the SNAP bureau (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) show pictures of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVI, left, and of father Lawrence Murphy, as they stage a press conference in front of The Vatican Thursday, March 25, 2010. SNAP members denounce Benedict's handling of the case that involved father Murphy, who died in 1998, accused of molesting some 200 deaf boys as he worked at the former St. John's School for the Deaf in St. Francis from 1950 to 1975. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's deputy at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,ruled that the alleged molestation had occurred too long ago and that the accused priest, Rev. Lawrence Murphy, should instead repent and be restricted from celebrating Mass outside of his home diocese.

ROME -- Four American victims of clergy sexual abuse say they were detained and questioned by Italian police in Rome after showing photos of the pope during a news conference outside St. Peter's Square.

Barbara Blaine, one of the victims, said Thursday after emerging from a police station near the Vatican that officers told them a judge will decide if they will be charged. She says they were detained because they didn't have a permit for the outdoor news conference.

Blaine said police seemed most concerned because they displayed photos of Pope Benedict XVI and his top aide, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. She says police also confiscated posters with slogans like "Stop the secrecy."

According to church documents, the Vatican ordered a stop to a church trial of a priest who abused 200 deaf children in Wisconsin.