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Lawsuit alleges abuse cover-up leading to Vatican

Attorney Jeff Anderson filed a racketeering lawsuit Thursday against a former bishop that accused the Roman Catholic Church of conspiring to cover up alleged sexual abuse.

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) -- Another lawsuit was filed Thursday against a former bishop, alleging abuse and a vast church cover-up leading all the way to the Vatican.

The lawsuit, filed in St. Louis Circuit Court by attorney Jeffrey Anderson on behalf of an unnamed man, charges that the Roman Catholic Church violated federal racketeering law by conspiring to cover up the alleged abuse. Anderson has filed numerous lawsuits on behalf of other alleged victims.

The lawsuit names former Bishop Anthony O'Connell as an alleged child molester.

O'Connell resigned his post with the West Palm Beach Diocese in Florida after admitting he inappropriately touched a boy in the 1970s. More allegations of abuse have followed.

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Thursday's lawsuit is the second Anderson has filed that names the Vatican as a defendant and alleges racketeering by top church officials.

Also named as defendants in the suit are the Catholic diocese of Kansas City and Jefferson City in Missouri, as well as those in Knoxville, Tennessee, and West Palm beach, Florida. The Vatican also was named.

According to a statement read at a news conference, the man -- identified only as John Doe -- says he was a student at the St. Thomas Seminary in Hannibal when O'Connell began molesting him. O'Connell is a former rector at that Missouri seminary.

"This was very uncomfortable for me, but I trusted him," the statement said. "He was persistent, and I felt he knew what God would have him do."

Including the Vatican as a defendant was justified, Anderson said, because top church leaders knew about widespread sexual abuse of children by priests, but sought to "obstruct justice" by moving those priests "from parish to parish."

A growing number of accusations, lawsuits and settlements in the United States about alleged pedophilia prompted Pope John Paul II to summon all U.S. cardinals to Rome next week for an extraordinary two-day meeting to discuss the scandal.

Various church leaders have vowed to do a better job of rooting out abusive priests and protecting children.