Judge brings cardinal into abuse case

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A judge in California ruled Friday that Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles can be questioned by lawyers in a sexual molestation suit.

Mahoney, now head of the largest Roman Catholic diocese in the country, served with some of the priests named in the suit. Judge Ronald Sabraw ruled that the cardinal can be questioned about church practices and the priests that he knew, the New York Times reports.

The judge also dismissed four suits brought by men who claimed that they were molested by a now-dead priest in the early 1960s.