Louisville, KY. (AP) -- A Louisville, Kentucky, attorney says Pope Benedict XVI should be questioned soon about clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

William McMurry says the Pope is the most knowledgeable person on the topic and his advanced age makes future testimony unlikely.

Many similar lawsuits have named the Pope, the Vatican and other high-ranking church officials as defendants but have failed.

This request comes as part of a federal lawsuit being appealed in Cincinnati in the case of three men claiming top church officials should have warned about sexual abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Louisville.

A judge last year let those claims stand while dismissing other aspects of the lawsuit. It's now pending before the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

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