Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
CNN has announced that they will be airing a one-hour special titled ” What the Pope Knew” on September 25 and September 26 at 7 PM and 10 PM central standard time. It is being indicated that the story will focus on how Ratzinger used to be in charge of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF). The CDF was often in charge of investigating alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests. The story will look at how the Pope handled several sex abuse investigations.
One of the stories is about Terry Kohut, an alleged victim of Wisconsin priest sex abuse. When Kohut was a teenager, he was sexually abused by a headmaster/priest at the St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The abuse allegedly went on for years. He was not alone, and from 1950 to 1974 Father Lawrence C Murphy allegedly sexually abused and raped as many as 200 deaf children, this according to church and court documents. Kohut has now filed a sex abuse lawsuit directly against the Vatican and actually naming the Pope as a defendant.
The CNN story will go on to talk about how the abuse of father Murphy was brought to the attention of Ratzinger and the CDF years ago, but that a church trial against Murphy was stopped and he was allowed to remain at his position of priest. The Kohut lawsuit alleges that the Vatican’s “policy of secrecy” in abuse cases helped to hide priest sex abuse of children, which in turn helped father Murphy continue abusing children.
Kohut is simply listed as John Doe 16 on the lawsuit that was filed on behalf of dozens of victims. When Chicago priest sex abuse attorneys file lawsuits against the Archdiocese, we typically use a name like John Doe or Jane Doe to protect the identity of the victims that we represent.
If you are a victim of priest sex abuse in the State of Illinois, please contact our office if you would like a free and confidential consultation. Call 312-924-7575 or contact Abels & Annes online.