Sex abuse victim learns of Pope's role

Brian Rokus
CNN Special Investigations Unit

Editor’s note: A one-hour CNN special, “What the Pope Knew,” will air this Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 25 and Sept. 26, at 8pm and 11pm ET. This story is drawn from that report.

MORRISONVILLE, Ill. – Matt McCormick was in the seventh grade when Father Alvin Campbell gave him a ride home from a baseball game. As they were driving along country roads, Campbell put his hand on McCormick’s thigh and “just left it there.”

It was the first time the priest had touched him. During the next three years, McCormick says, the abuse would go much further.

That was 25 years ago. Just three months ago, he learned that Pope Benedict XVI played a role in keeping his abuser in the church when CNN told him about a letter signed by the pontiff – then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – refusing to defrock the pedophile priest.

Full story on the Belief blog