CHICAGO — The Vatican was named Wednesday in a lawsuit that claims the Holy See was responsible for covering up child sexual abuse by a now-imprisoned priest when church officials overlooked complaints and kept him in a position to continue molesting children.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago on behalf of a woman whose son was molested by the Rev. Daniel McCormack, is an attempt to “hold those most responsible for the global problem and the problem in this community to account in a way they have never been,” said St. Paul, Minn.-based attorney Jeff Anderson.
McCormack pleaded guilty in 2007 to abusing five children and was sentenced to five years in prison. In 2008, the Chicago Archdiocese agreed to pay $12.6 million to 16 victims of abuse by priests, including McCormack.
Anderson said the archdiocese agreed to release documents involving priests who had been credibly accused of abuse, but “not one file has been effectively produced so we can produce it to the public” and believes the archdiocese is following orders from the Vatican.
The Vatican’s U.S. attorney, Jeffrey Lena, said the lawsuit “is without any merit.”
