Pope Sued over Shota Sex

The pope is being sued for failing to do anything about priests who used boys under their care for sex.

A long running series of scandals in which US Catholic priests are alleged to have had sex with young boys, only to have their crimes covered up by the church hierarchy, has resulted in extensive legal action, which now targets the pope himself.

The man at the centre of this case claims he was sexually abused by Father Lawrence Murphy, who has been accused of sexually abusing hundreds of the boys under his care at a Milwaukee school for deaf children in the 1970s. Murphy died in 1998, without facing any official action from the church.

At the time, the church responded to complaints by simply moving the priest to another diocese, without pursuing any legal action against him or expelling him from the clergy.

Critics contend such treatment was routine, with priests caught at it often going on to pursue their taste for pederasty in new positions.

Complaints should have been referred to a church body then headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict XVI. However, the body did nothing and claimed it only heard about the case later.

The Vatican has called the claims that it knew about the affair but failed to do anything “ignoble,” and denied any wrongdoing.

The man’s lawsuit, naming the pope and several cardinals, seeks full disclosure of all such cases. He is not demanding financial compensation.

Moral improprieties in the Catholic church, particularly pederasty, have for over a thousand years been a major area of criticism.

Theories as to why it is so afflicted range from the church recruiting a disproportionately high number of homosexuals to its priests being warped by their vows of celibacy; whatever the cause, after persisting for so long it seems to have become an accepted and deeply ingrained part of Catholic tradition, at least amongst priests.