Boston ? Cardinal Bernard Law answered lawyers’ questions in a rare deposition of a high-ranking church leader Wednesday and insisted he relied on the advice of doctors and subordinates when he approved the transfer of a priest accused of molesting children.

The deposition was ordered in a lawsuit filed by 86 people who say Law and the Boston Archdiocese failed to protect youngsters from the Rev. John Geoghan, who has been accused of sexually abusing more than 130 children in three decades.

Last week, the archdiocese backed out of a settlement with Geoghan’s alleged victims worth up to $30 million. With no settlement in hand, a judge ordered the deposition immediately, expressing concern that Law could soon be summoned to Rome, beyond the reach of the court.

Law, who has withstood repeated calls to resign, arrived at the courthouse amid heavy security for the first of several days of testimony.

The deposition was closed to the public but was videotaped and could be used in a trial if Law is not available. An 88-page transcript of the morning session was released by the plaintiffs’ side.

In the past few months, the nation’s Roman Catholic Church has been rocked by a scandal that began in Boston when it was disclosed that officials knew about the allegations against Geoghan but did little more than move him from parish to parish. The uproar has led to the dismissal or resignation of more than 120 priests across the country and prompted Pope John Paul II to summon America’s cardinals to the Vatican to discuss the crisis.

Law’s deposition is a legal rarity for someone of such high church standing. In 1995, Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles gave a deposition in a case brought by two brothers who claimed they were molested by a priest.

Law’s deposition began with the cardinal’s attorney, Wilson Rogers Jr., making a standing objection to the questioning, saying, “The inquiry into the inner workings of the church was inappropriate.”

William Gordon, a plaintiffs’ attorney, questioned Law about why he approved Geoghan’s transfer in 1984 even though he had received letters and other evidence of abuse by Geoghan.

Medical advice

Law said he did not recall reading letters warning about Geoghan’s behavior including one from his own secretary and said doctors had said Geoghan was not a threat.

“I’m sure that medical assurance was given,” Law said. “Whether it was subsequently put in writing and in an earlier form given orally, I cannot say.

“But I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that this letter would never have been put before me for a signature had we not had the assurance of someone competent to give that assurance that this assignment was safe.”

Law said he did not remember reading a letter from Margaret Gallant, a relative of seven alleged Geoghan victims, who had expressed disbelief that the church gave Geoghan another chance at a parish in Boston. Nor did he recall a letter from Bishop John D’Arcy warning him that Geoghan was unfit to be reassigned.

Geoghan was convicted in January of groping a boy in a swimming pool and is serving nine to 10 years in prison.

Law did say he recognized his handwriting on a note forwarding one of Gallant’s letters to one of his subordinates, with the instructions: “Urgent, please follow through.”

“It’s just impossible for him not to have remembered that letter,” said a deposition attendee Geoghan allegedly abused, Mark Keane. “I found that the cardinal had some selective amnesia.”

Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney for the Geoghan victims, said of the cardinal’s testimony: “He gave a lot of his standard speeches, his standard responses to this situation.”

The cardinal’s attorney would not comment.

Law said he was prompted to assign Geoghan to a new parish on the advice of two doctors, even though both lacked credentials in sex abuse matters and one had been accused in a lawsuit of molesting one of his patients.

“I think all of us understand much more fully today what we’re dealing with in this terrible pathology than we did earlier on,” he said.

Diplomatic immunity for Law

News reports have suggested that Law could have diplomatic immunity from lawsuits because of his dual citizenship of the Vatican.

Under questioning, Law explained that he was both a U.S. citizen and a citizen of the Vatican. “But I must say that it hasn’t been something that I’ve been conscious of in the past 17 years,” he said.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers spent much of the afternoon session questioning Law on the collapse of the settlement with Geoghan’s alleged victims, pressing the cardinal for details of his financial advisers’ objections to the deal.

Gordon also questioned the church’s decision to inform the media of its rejection of the deal before the alleged victims, some of whom were suicidal.

In hindsight, Law acknowledged he would have handled the release of the news differently. “It’s part of what I have come to experience as an exceedingly painful, complicated mess,” he said.