In a May deposition on a priest-child sex abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, then-auxiliary bishop Robert Carlson said he was “not sure” in 1984 if he “knew it was a crime or not” for an adult to engage in sex with a child. Carlson added, reassuringly, “I understand today it’s a crime.” Carlson today is the archbishop of St. Louis. Lawyers for the plaintiffs quickly questioned Carlson’s candor, pointing to other 1984-era documents in which Carlson referred to the statute of limitations for legal protection, suggesting he at least suspected that adult-child sex was illegal.
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