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After 40 years of silence, abuse victims of U.S. priest relive ordeal 'that Pope covered up'By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 1:15 PM on 26th March 2010
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Archbishop of Westminster: There is no Church cover-up
Now Pope implicated in case of paedophile Munich priest
Vatican paper defends Benedict from 'despicable' attack
Former pupils of a U.S. Catholic priest who molested up to 200 deaf schoolboys have spoken out about his offences after four decades of silence.
Father Lawrence Murphy preyed on students in the confessional, dormitories, cupboards and during field trips from the 1950s until 1974.
Pope Benedict XVI is accused of knowing about the allegations since the 1990s while - as Cardinal Josef Ratzinger - he ran an enforcement office in the Vatican.
Benedict has also come under fire over his handling of an abuse case against a priest in Germany three decades ago when he was a cardinal in charge of the Munich Archdiocese.
Brave: Steven Geier (left), one of 200 boys allegedly abused by Father Lawrence Murphy (right) at St John’s St John’s School for the for the Deaf, in Milwaukee
In the Milwaukee case, Cardinal Ratzinger's office ordered that no trial take place, although the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has since paid out $28million to victims of abuse.
But the Vatican defended Benedict last night and denounced what it said was a concerted campaign to smear him and his aides.
The Vatican issued a strong defense in its handling of the Murphy case. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said there was no cover-up and denounced what it said was a 'clear and despicable intention' to strike at Benedict 'at any cost.'
The string of recent allegations of abuse by Catholic clergy has encouraged the pupils of St John’s School for the Deaf to finally speak out.
One alleged victim, Steven Geier, 59, said Father Murphy, who was fluent in sign language, sexually assaulted him four times in a closet from the age of 14.
More...Did the Pope shield paedophile priest? 'Cover-up' over curate's abuse of 200 deaf children
During the first assault Fr Murphy demanded Mr Geier remove his trousers, and when he refused, the cleric pulled them off.
‘Father Murphy put everything into the context of God. I felt like I was really brainwashed,’ said Mr Geier, adding that he thought the pope was ‘stupid’.
Arthur Budzinski, 61, who said he received $80,000 compensation, claimed his torment was made worse by seeing other boys being assaulted at night by the priest.
Trauma: Arthur Budzinski, another victim to speak out, sits in a second row desk with his nine-year-old classmates. He claims he saw many boys being abused
Sinister: Father Murphy, left, watches over boys during communion in 1960
‘They would sleep in a large open room in bunk beds’ at St John's School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, said Gigi Budzinski, 26, interpreting her father’s sign language.
‘My father saw other boys being molested, too. They'd never talk about it.’
However, as the victims finally broke their silence yesterday by lifting their right to anonymity, the Vatican defended its decision not to defrock Father Murphy and denounced what it called a campaign to smear the pope.
Prosecutors say they have reviewed the case but couldn't file charges because the six-year statute of limitations had run out.
Father Murphy is also alleged to have abused at least one teenager in a juvenile detention centre in the 1970s.
Today it was claimed that the Pope was kept more closely informed of a German priest's abuse case than previous church statements have suggested.
The New York Times claimed today that the then Cardinal Ratzinger was copied in on a memo that informed him a priest, whom he had approved sending to therapy in 1980 to overcome paedophilia, would be returned to pastoral work within days of beginning psychiatric treatment
The priest was then convicted of molesting boys in another parish.
Today the Archbishop of Westminster admitted that serious mistakes had been made within the Catholic Church but defended the Pope.
In a comment piece for the Times, Vincent Nicholls said that the Pope 'is not an idle observer. His actions speak as well as his words.'
School of shame: St John's in the 1970s, the decade Father Murphy left
Depraved: Victim Arthur Budzinski (left, in an altar server cassock) and Father Murphy (far right) during a burial
Donald Marshall, now 45, today said Father Murphy visited him several times a week at the detention centre where he was sent at age 13 for burglary.
He said Father Murphy seemed nice when others were around, but turned sinister when paying a private visit.
‘He was sitting on my bed, reading the Bible to me, and he put his hand on my knee,’ Mr Marshall said.
‘He leaned over and started kissing me. That's when he tried to put his hand down my pants.’
In one of the documents sent to the Vatican, dated October 1997, Father Thomas Brundage said some of Father Murphy's assaults began in the confessional, where he began by asking the boys about their being circumcised.
Father Brundage said at least 100 boys were involved.
Questions: Pope Benedict XVI, seen at a youth festival in Rome earlier this week, is understood to have first heard the Milwaukee allegations in the mid 1990s
‘Odds are that this situation may very well be the most horrendous, number-wise, and especially because these are physically challenged, vulnerable people,’ he wrote.
Mr Budzinski said that when he was 26, he and two others victimised by Fr Murphy went to police.
He said the police investigated Father Murphy but didn't arrest him.
The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said there was no cover-up and denounced what it said was a ‘clear and despicable intention’ to strike at Benedict ‘at any cost’.
The Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, issued a statement noting that the Murphy case did not reach the Vatican until 1996 - some 20 years after Milwaukee church authorities first learned of the allegations.
Fr Lombardi said the absence of more recent allegations was a factor in the decision not to defrock Fr Murphy.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee said: ‘Murphy's actions were criminal and we sincerely apologise to those who have been harmed.’
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Newest Oldest Best rated Worst rated View all They brought this upon themselves; they shouldn't have been turning a blind eye to what was going on.
It is a scary thought when abusers seem to think that they can abuse and then *absolve themselves* of any crime that they commit.
Man cannot forgive himself, forgiveness comes from the victim and from God.
- Cohen, UK, 26/3/2010 14:05
Click to rate Rating 80 Report abuse
Sex is for procreation yet they cover up the most heinous crime ever, and if it is true that the Pope knew about abuse when he was a cardinal then surely he must step down? Priests who use their position to abuse children are despicable and any catholics who try to justify priests donig this are just as despicable as them.
- Jan, Hartlepool, 26/3/2010 13:39
Click to rate Rating 88 Report abuse
Certainly, hopefully there is a very special place in hell for Father Murphy.
- angus, texas, 26/3/2010 13:36
Click to rate Rating 97 Report abuse
'Father Murphy put everything into the context of God. I felt like I was really brainwashed,' said Mr Geier, adding that he thought the pope was 'stupid'.