Vatican City, Aug 18, 2011 / 11:48 am
The Vatican released internal files online on Aug. 17 showing that despite prosecutors' claims, it had no prior knowledge of an Irish priest's history of sex abuse before he was sent to the U.S. in the 1960s.
The “newly-released documents show that the plaintiff’s lawyers’ long-standing accusations against the Holy See are false,” said Jeffrey Lena, the California-based attorney who is representing the Vatican in the case.
An anonymous plaintiff from Oregon filed suit against the Vatican in 2002 after Fr. Andrew Ronan, an Irish priest with a record of sexually abusing minors, was transferred from Ireland to the U.S. and eventually moved to Portland, Oregon.
Fr. Ronan, a Servite priest from the Friar Servants of Mary, died in 1992.