03:27 PM PST on Friday, December 16, 2005

By WILLIAM MCCALL, AP Writer

Attorneys for alleged victims of priest sex abuse argued Friday they should be allowed to ask whether the highest-ranking American in the Vatican is following federal law or church doctrine when he takes an oath to tell the truth at a deposition next month.

AP photo

Archdiocese of Portland Archbishop John Vlazny Vlazny announces that the Portland Archdiocese will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . The Archdiocese of Portland was the first in the country to file for bankruptcy because of sexual abuse settlements.

Archbishop William Levada has agreed to be in San Francisco on Jan. 9 to be questioned by attorneys about his tenure as archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland from 1986-95.

 The Portland archdiocese was the first diocese in the nation to declare bankruptcy when it filed for protection from creditors in July 2004, just before the scheduled start of jury trials for victims seeking more than $155 million in damages.

 Levada had been the archbishop in San Francisco before Pope Benedict XVI named him to take over the pontiff's old job as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. The prefect is responsible for protecting church teachings and for reviewing all sex abuse claims against clergy.

 U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris is setting the ground rules for the deposition, believed to be the first time a high-ranking Vatican official has faced such questioning.

 Attorneys for victims in Oregon told Perris on Friday they wanted to ask Levada whether he would rely on the so-called doctrine of "mental reservation" when answering questions at the deposition.

 The Catholic church teaches it is a sin to tell a lie, but the doctrine of mental reservation allows for circumstances when it may be better to avoid the truth in order to serve a higher purpose.

 Kelly Clark, an attorney for several victims, argued the questions could put Levada in the position of deciding whether his answers must be balanced between federal law and his moral obligations under church doctrine.

 "By being a moral matter does it trump his civil oath?" Clark asked Perris. "I need to be able to ask him whether he's using 'mental reservation' -- did you think it would do more harm than good by answering the question."

 But Jeffrey Lena, an attorney for Levada and the Vatican, said the civil oath applied before the deposition should be sufficient to ensure honest answers to the questions -- rather than asking Levada if his answers are based on the doctrine of "mental reservation."

 "It's not necessary to inquire whether there is a personal philosophy that causes him to lie," Lena said. "We can just rely on the oath to tell the truth."

 Perris replied that she expected Levada to be questioned at length about his tenure in Portland but did not want to get into questions about religious philosophy.

 "I don't have a problem with, 'What did you know, what did you do, and why did you do it?"' the judge said.

 Clark said any questions about mental reservation would be applied strictly to the answer to a specific question.

 "I'm not asking him about mental reservation as a theory under canon law," Clark said. "I just do not want to be precluded from asking, 'Did you use mental reservation in answering any part of that question?"'

 The archdiocese has offered to settle all outstanding claims for about $42 million to end the bankruptcy, subject to the approval of Perris and the victims, who could offer their own settlement plan.

 Perris is expected to rule before the end of the year.