Appeal planned in Vatican sex abuse suit: lawyer

UNITED STATES
AFP

WASHINGTON — A US man who sued the Vatican after years of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of a Roman Catholic priest plans to appeal a court ruling dismissing the case, his attorney said Tuesday.

The lawsuit in the western US city of Portland, Oregon was the first in a priest abuse case to directly name the Vatican as a defendant.

The plaintiff alleged that while he was a teenager, the priest raped him repeatedly — abuse he said went on for a decade — and that the Catholic church bears ultimate responsibility for those crimes.

But the alleged victim’s attorney Jeff Anderson told AFP in a telephone interview that the judge dismissed the case Monday, ruling that the Vatican did not employ the cleric.

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