Allen: Withdrawal of Abuse Suit against Vatican 'Enormously Important'

Catholic Culture
February 14, 2012

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=13321

John Allen, senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, has told Vatican Radio that the withdrawal of a federal lawsuit against the Vatican is "enormously important."

"I think it is enormously important that this case is not longer on the docket, because this was the case centered on revelations about Father Lawrence Murphy, who allegedly abused almost 200 kids at a school for the deaf in the Milwaukee area from 1950 until 1974," says Allen.

"This was the case that triggered the global media firestorm in early 2010 that led to a very incendiary front page piece in The New York Times suggesting that the Vatican and Pope Benedict had failed to respond aggressively to the crisis, and really did galvanize and shift public perceptions in very important ways."