Rome, Italy (CNN)  -- The Vatican did not know about an American priest believed to have molested up to 200 boys until 20 years after civil authorities investigated and then dropped the case, its top spokesman said Thursday. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi issued the statement in response to a New York Times story alleging that top Vatican officials, including the future Pope Benedict XVI, failed to discipline or defrock the now-deceased Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy of Wisconsin, despite warnings from several American bishops. But Jeff Anderson, a lawyer who obtained the internal church paperwork the newspaper based its story on, said it "shows a direct line from the victims through the bishops and directly to the man who is now pope."
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American priest believed to have molested up to 200 boys
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Authorities investigated Wisconsin priest and then dropped case
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Newspaper says officials, including future Pope Benedict XVI, failed to discipline priest
@placeholder, however, said that neither canon law nor Vatican norms prohibit the reporting of such cases to law enforcement.