Lawsuit against Pope 'without merit', lawyer says

The Vatican's attorney yesterday dismissed as "completely without merit" a lawsuit against Pope Benedict XVI over sex abuse committed by a US priest.

"While legitimate lawsuits have been filed by abuse victims, this is not one of them," Jeffrey Lena said in a statement released by the Vatican.

The action is an attempt at a "broader attack - this one dependent on re-characterising the Catholic Church as a worldwide 'business enterprise'" carrying liability for crimes committed around the world, he charged.

The lawsuit also names Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone - the Pope's right-hand man - and Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals and former secretary of state.

"Most of the complaint rehashes old theories already rejected by US courts," Dr Lena said.

An alleged victim of Father Lawrence Murphy, a priest accused of molesting up to 200 boys at a school for the deaf in Wisconsin, sued the Vatican and the Pope on Thursday in an attempt to open secret files on internal investigations into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

"This suit demands further action by the Vatican and the removal of every single priest that has offended a single child and every single bishop and cardinal that has been complicit in those crimes," said Jeff Anderson, the victim's attorney.

The German magazine Die Zeit said earlier this month that Mr Bertone bore the main responsibility for inaction in the Murphy scandal.

Die Zeit, citing a copy of Vatican documents, said that at a crisis meeting arranged by the Vatican in 1998, Cardinal Bertone raised numerous obstacles against internal disciplinary proceedings against Fr Murphy.

It said Cardinal Bertone warned it would be difficult to deal with the case when it would have to be "treated in absolute secrecy", while there would also be trouble gathering evidence "without enlarging the scandal".

He also wanted to "avoid a scandal for his boss", the weekly said, citing a summary of the meeting.