Pope Benedict XVI and a number of high-ranking Vatican officials are the subject of a lawsuit by an Illinois man claiming they knowingly failed to address a Milwaukee priest’s abuse of children.

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson filed a lawsuit in a Milwaukee court yesterday naming Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican’s secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone and Dean of the College of Cardinals Angelo Sodano as party to what Anderson described as “a major conspiracy to protect themselves.”

Rev. Lawrence Murphy, who formerly served at St. John’s School for the Deaf, is accused of molesting the plaintiff, referred to as John Doe 16, while the plaintiff was a student.

The case alleges not only that Murphy has had a history of sexual abuse, but that the defendant knew in entirety the extent of abuses within the school itself and throughout the Church’s parishes.

“[The] Defendant knew that these clerics would sexually molest more children, but sought to protect itself from scandal, sought to keep its income stream going, at the peril of children,” the lawsuit said.

Between 1950 and 1975, the period of Murphy’s service at St. John’s, the lawsuit alleges a number of the school’s students came forward to staff, police and parents with complaints of abuse by Murphy.

According to the lawsuit, Murphy was moved from St. John’s to Boulder Junction, Wis. after it had become apparent there were issues surrounding the priest. Sometime later, Murphy was moved yet again to Lincoln Hills School in Irma, Wis.

Wisconsin Co-Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests John Pilmaier said the filing of the lawsuit was a historic day for survivors of abuse.

“We’ve seen a pattern in priests being transferred and cases being ignored,” Pilmaier said. “What this case illustrates is, as the phrase goes, all roads lead to Rome.”

Father Tom Brundage, judicial vicar for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from 1995 to 2003, presided over hearings within the diocese as to Murphy’s conduct in the school.

In interviews with Murphy, Brundage said he found him to be “defensive and threatening,” according to a statement on the Milwaukee Archdiocese website. He also interviewed a number of Murphy’s victims.

“I heard stories of distorted lives, sexualities diminished or expunged,” Brundage said in the statement. “These were the darkest days of my own priesthood, having been ordained less than 10 years at the time.”

In carrying out the investigations, Brundage spoke with a number of individuals requesting that Murphy be removed from the priesthood.

Shortly after requesting Murphy to appear at a deposition in Milwaukee, Brundage was informed that Murphy, in his age and ill health, could not be present for the proceedings. Murphy died of natural causes one week later.

The implication of then-cardinal Ratzinger, Brundage said in the statement, was unfounded. He added he had no reason to believe Ratzinger was involved in the failure to act on these allegations.

“Placing this matter at his doorstep is a huge leap of logic and information,” Brundage said in the statement.

The judgment’s amount against the defendants is to be determined when the case goes to trial.