St. Louis Archbishop Deposed in Minnesota Case

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis said under oath that he couldn't recall details about how he handled allegations of abuse against a Minnesota priest years ago.

But Archbishop Robert Carlson did say he never went to authorities after that priest admitted in 1984 that he engaged in criminal sexual contact with a minor.

Carlson was deposed last month in a case against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, where Carlson served for many years and had a role in investigating allegations of abuse from 1979 to 1994.

Messages left with the archdioceses of St. Louis and St. Paul-Minneapolis weren't immediately returned.

Carlson left Minnesota in 1994 and served as bishop in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Saginaw, Mich., before becoming St. Louis archbishop in 2009.