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	Suit against Pope, Vatican Details Wisconsin Abuse NPR April 22, 2010 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTracker/Suit%20Against%20Pope,%20Vatican%20Details%20Wisconsin%20Abuse MILWAUKEE (AP) — The case of a Wisconsin priest accused of preying on boys at a school for the deaf was presented to the Vatican by one of the victims a year earlier than previously thought, according to documents revealed Thursday in another lawsuit aimed at the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church. A man identified in the lawsuit as "John Doe 16" of Illinois wrote a March 5, 1995, letter to then-Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano alleging that the Rev. Lawrence Murphy molested him for a number of years. Previously, it was believed that the Vatican first learned of the allegations against Murphy in a July 1996 letter from Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland. Murphy, who died in 1998, is accused of sexually abusing some 200 boys at the school from 1950 to 1974. His case drew renewed scrutiny after the recent release of documents suggesting that a Vatican office led by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — now the pope — failed to aggressively discipline Murphy. Doe 16's letter was released by his attorney, Jeff Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., who provided a copy of a receipt showing the registered letter had reached the Vatican. The Vatican dismissed the lawsuit as a publicity stunt that is entirely without merit and rehashes theories already rejected by U.S. courts.
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