The Vatican, dragged deeper than ever into the clergy sex abuse scandal, is launching a legal defence that it hopes will shield the Pope from a US lawsuit seeking to have him answer questions under oath.

A judge in Kentucky has ruled that the Holy See is a foreign state that enjoys certain immunity protections, in an action by three men who claim the Vatican covered up the sexual abuse of children by priests.

The sexual abuse crisis in America’s Roman Catholic Church has focused primarily on molestation by priests, but in Louisville, two dozen people are now suing an order of nuns that staffed an orphanage decades ago.

SOFTWARE group Iona Technologies saw its shares rise by almost 8% after it released strong fourth-quarter figures yesterday.

ONE of the largest collections of civil actions against the Roman Catholic church came to a close when the Archdiocese of Louisville agreed to pay $25.7 million to 243 people who accuse d priests and employees of child sexual abuse.