Snow storm barrels through Midwest to Mid-Atlantic

Bundled against the cold, wet conditions, University of Wisconsin-Madison student Natalie Weill makes her way through the campus' Library Mall as a steady snowstorm moves throughout the Madison, Wis. area Tuesday, March 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, John Hart)

This frame grab provided by WEAU-TV shows a semi that authorities say slipped off a snow-covered road and plunged into the Red Cedar River Tuesday, March 5, 2013 near Menomonie, Wis. Police says a body believed to be the driver has been recovered from the river and emergency crews are searching for a second person. (AP Photo/Courtesy WEAU-TV) MANDATORY CREDIT

CHICAGO (AP) — A late winter storm packing up to 10 inches of snow sent officials in weather-hardened Chicago into action Tuesday to prevent a repeat of scenes from two years ago, when hundreds of people in cars and buses were stranded on the city's marquee thoroughfare during a massive blizzard.

The storm was part of a system that started in Montana, hit the Dakotas and Minnesota on Monday and then barreled through Wisconsin and Illinois on its way to Washington, D.C., where it was expected late Tuesday night. As the storm pushed toward the Mid-Atlantic region, people there were gathering supplies and airlines were canceling flights.

Since the 2011 blizzard that dumped 20 inches on Chicago, the nation's third-largest city has had it pretty easy snow-wise, with a relatively mild winter last year and a slow start this year. The storm that was moving through the Midwest on Tuesday dumped 6 inches at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport by 4 p.m.

Preparations for Tuesday's storm, including warnings to commuters that it was coming, may have paid off. Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey said in an email that traffic was lighter than normal on Chicago expressways Tuesday afternoon, an indication that many people took public transportation instead of cars. Claffey also said there were no reports of any major traffic accidents.

Still, some in Chicago were caught off guard by the last gasp from Old Man Winter. Many left their downtown jobs early, with some saying they had to go home to take care of children after school programs were canceled or baby sitters couldn't make it.

"I thought it was just media hype," said Stacia Kopplin, who was fleeing her financial services job shortly after noon to catch a train home to the suburbs.

Schools were closed in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, where officials urged caution on slick roads. In western Wisconsin, a semi-trailer slid off a snow-covered interstate near Menomonie and into the Red Cedar River, killing one person. The search for a second person, believed to be a passenger, was suspended overnight.

Airlines canceled more than 1,100 flights at Chicago airports, prompting delays and closures at others. Airlines along the storm's projected path were already cutting flights too, including about 450 on Wednesday, most of them at Dulles and Reagan National airports in the Washington area, according to FlightAware.com. Daniel Baker, CEO of the flight-tracking service, said he expected the numbers to rise.

In Chicago, officials worked to keep Lake Shore Drive safe. The February 2011 blizzard embarrassed the city when hundreds of cars and buses were entombed in snow on the roadway that runs along Lake Michigan. Many people were trapped overnight.

City government took steps to prevent a repeat. Officials opened a removable barrier in the roadway's median to allow emergency vehicles quicker access to trouble spots. Plows and salt-spreading trucks were in easier striking distance of Lake Shore Drive, and they started treating the roadway hours before snow began falling.

Elsewhere, some were taking the snow in stride.

"It's not that bad at all," said 47-year-old Alicia Aldrete, who was out walking her dog in Madison, Wis. "Just make sure you shovel immediately, put lots of salt on the ground and also store lots of food in case of emergency."

Dave Koch, manager at Paul's Tavern in Dubuque, Iowa, said business was surprisingly busy Tuesday afternoon as people came in to escape the snow. At least 5 inches of snow had fallen.

"In general, everyone's attitude is pretty tired," Koch said. "I think people are tired of the snow and the gloomy weather."

A.J. Krizman, an 87-year-old retiree from South Bend, Ind., said he hoped it was the last snow of the season.

"It's almost time to start planting a garden," Krizman said. "So I hope we're through with this."

In St. Paul, Minn., where 7 inches of snow had fallen, 55-year-old Mario Showers was shoveling sidewalks around a downtown church.

"With Minnesota, ain't no telling when the snow's gonna come, you know," said Showers. "The way I think about it is that, you've got four seasons, and every season brings about a change, you know. So, you've got to take the bitter with the sweet, that's all. So this is the bitter right now."

As the storm moved through the Midwest, people in the Mid-Atlantic region were getting ready.

"Well, I have an inclination to think that it's not going to be as bad as they say it is, but it probably will be. So, it's better to be prepared, just in case," said 33-year-old Ann Oulobo, who was stocking up on medicine and other necessities in Baltimore County, Md., after shopping for groceries earlier in the day.

At the Food Lion in Staunton, Va., shelves that were stocked ahead of the storm were being cleared by customers.

"Bread, milk, eggs and beer, all the necessities," manager Everett Castle said.

Washington, D.C., could get 3 to 7 inches of snow, while the mountains of western Maryland could see 16 inches by Wednesday night. Minor tidal flooding was possible along the Delaware coast, the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay and the lower Potomac River, the National Weather Service said.

As miserable as things could get for commuters, taxi driver Balwinder Singh of Herndon, Va., said he was looking forward to the storm.

"People tip better in the snow," he said.

As the heavy, wet snow fell in Chicago, residents were working their shovels and snow-blowers.

Pat Reidy said she skipped work and did 40 minutes of yoga as a warm-up for the heavy lifting she was doing in her neighborhood near Wrigley Field.

"I'm trying to avoid a heart attack," the 52-year-old finance worker said.

Mike Morawski, 53, was helping clear the sidewalk in front an older neighbor's home.

"We don't want her digging out," he said. "She's a tender, little woman, a piano teacher. She doesn't need to be shoveling."

Chicago's love-thy-neighbor ethos has its limits, though. With the winter blast, Morawski expected the return of an old city tradition in which residents clear a parking space and keep it reserved with a lawn chair.

"They'll all come out tonight, believe me, when people start digging out," he said.

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Associated Press writers David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Md., Kevin Wang in Madison, Wis., Amy Forliti in St. Paul, Minn., Barbara Rodriguez in Des Moines, Iowa, and Steve Szkotak in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to clear the way for confirmation of John Brennan to run the CIA, the White House is providing members of the Senate Intelligence Committee with access to all of the top-secret legal opinions that justify the use of lethal drone strikes against terror suspects, the committee's chairwoman announced Tuesday.

Brennan's installation at the spy agency has been held up as Democrats and Republicans have pressed the Obama administration to allow a review of the classified documents prepared by the Justice Department. The senators have argued they can't perform adequate oversight without reviewing the contents of the opinions, but the White House had resisted requests for full disclosure.

"I am pleased the administration has made this information available," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a statement. "It is important for the committee to do its work and will pave the way for the confirmation of John Brennan to be CIA director."

Even with the agreement on access to the Justice memos, Senate Republicans have been threatening to oppose Brennan's confirmation unless the White House supplies them with classified information, including emails among top U.S. national security officials, detailing the Obama administration's actions immediately following the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed during the raid.

Republicans on the committee have expressed frustration with what they described as the White House's reluctant disclosure of the records. "They need to give us everything that's out there," Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, said Monday.

The White House released two out of a total of 11 Justice legal opinions to the intelligence committee just hours before Brennan's Feb. 7 confirmation hearing in front of the panel. Two other memos had already been released to the committee.

White House press secretary Jay Carney, asked to explain the about face on providing the committee with greater access, said Tuesday Obama believes that the case presents a "unique and exceptional situation."

"We have worked with the committee to provide information about legal advice, and we have worked with them to meet their concerns in what the president believes is a unique situation and to, in doing so, help expedite confirmation," Carney said. "We look forward to speedy confirmation of John Brennan."

Brennan so far has escaped the harsh treatment that former Sen. Chuck Hagel, the president's choice to lead the Defense Department, received from Senate Republicans, even though Brennan is one of Obama's most important national security aides and the White House official who oversees the drone program.

Brennan also served as a senior CIA official during President George W. Bush's administration when waterboarding and other forms of "enhanced interrogation" and detention practices were adopted. Brennan has publicly denounced the use of these tactics, but the cloud hasn't gone completely away.

Brennan's stance on waterboarding and torture is inconsistent, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has said. Although Brennan has decried these methods, he also has said they saved lives, according to McCain, who said he is awaiting an explanation from Brennan. McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are also leading the charge for the Benghazi records.

"All we want is the answers," McCain said Monday. "I'm not threatening anything. I just think we deserve the answers."

Senate Republicans put Hagel through a bruising confirmation process. They labeled their former Republican colleague as a political turncoat for attacking the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq, and cast him as hostile toward Israel, soft on Iran and unqualified for the job.

In attacking Hagel, who served two terms from Nebraska, the GOP settled old political scores and won points with its conservative base by challenging Obama's nominee so aggressively. The Senate confirmed Hagel last week to replace Leon Panetta as defense secretary on a 58-41 vote, with four Republicans joining the Democrats in backing the contentious choice.

Criticism of Brennan, by contrast, has been less intense. He was grilled for more than three hours during his confirmation hearing, but also won praise from several lawmakers as the best qualified candidate to lead the CIA. Brennan, 57, is a veteran of more than three decades of intelligence work.

Former Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., who spent eight years on the House Intelligence Committee, said she expects Brennan to be confirmed by a comfortable margin. Senate Republicans took Hagel's nomination personally, she said, and they're unlikely to take a similar approach with Brennan.

"I don't think they're going to try the same play twice and really seriously wound Obama's national security team at a time when it's very important that we project strength," said Harman, president of the Wilson Center in Washington.

Brennan vigorously defended the use of drone strikes during his confirmation hearing. He declined to say whether he believes waterboarding, which simulates drowning, amounted to torture. But he called the practice "reprehensible" and said it should never be done again. Obama ordered waterboarding banned shortly after taking office.

Drone strikes are employed only as a "last resort," Brennan told the committee. But he also said he had no qualms about going after U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in September 2011. A drone strike in Yemen killed al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, both U.S. citizens. A drone strike two weeks later killed al-Awlaki's 16-year-old son, a Denver native.

Graham, one of Hagel's most acerbic critics, said last month that the Obama administration deserved an "A-plus" for its drone program and he rejected an idea floated by Feinstein and other senators to establish a special court system to regulate drone strikes.

"I'm 100 percent behind the administration," Graham said. "I think their program has been legal, ethical and wise."

But Graham, along with McCain, said the failure to turn over the Benghazi records is a dealbreaker. Graham said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he and McCain "are hell-bent on making sure the American people understand this debacle called Benghazi."

Brennan spent 25 years at the CIA before moving in 2003 from his job as deputy executive director of the agency to run the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. He later worked as interim director of the center's successor organization, the National Counterterrorism Center.

When Bush's second term began in 2005, Brennan left government to work for a company that provides counterterror analysis to federal agencies. After Obama took office in 2009, he returned to the federal payroll as the president's top counterterrorism adviser in the White House.

If confirmed by the full Senate, Brennan would replace Michael Morell, the CIA's deputy director who has been acting director since David Petraeus resigned in November after acknowledging an affair with his biographer.

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Colorado lawmakers advance gun control bills

Gun rights supporters descend on Colorado Capitol as lawmakers advance gun control bills

DENVER (AP) -- A series of sweeping gun-control measures in Colorado is on track to hit the governor's desk by the end of the month, with Democratic committees in the Legislature advancing all the bills despite a Capitol packed with hundreds of opponents and surrounded by cars circling the Capitol blaring their horns.

Gun limits including expanded background checks and ammunition magazine limits were helped Monday by testimony from the husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and victims of mass shootings in Connecticut and suburban Denver.

Colorado has become a focus point in the national debate over what new laws, if any, are needed to prevent gun violence after recent mass shootings, including an attack at an Aurora movie theater last summer — a massacre that brought to mind the Columbine High School shooting of 1999 for many in the state and across the nation.

The seven gun-control measures cleared their committees on 3-2 party-line votes and are planned for debate by the full Senate by Friday. Four of the seven have already cleared the House, making it possible some of them will land on the desk of Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper within weeks.

"I think they'll all pass. I really do," said Democratic Senate President John Morse. "And I think they all should pass. I think any of them failing doesn't make Colorado as safe as we could make Colorado."

A biplane flying above the Capitol Monday warned the governor, "HICK: DO NOT TAKE OUR GUNS!" Hickenlooper backs expanded background checks and has said he's considering a bill to limit ammunition magazines to 15 rounds. He hasn't indicated where he stands on other measures, including whether he supports a proposal that would hold sellers and owners of assault weapons liable for shootings by such firearms.

Gun rights supporters walked the Capitol halls wearing stickers that read, "I Vote Pro-Gun." Several dozen people outside the Capitol waved American flags as light snow fell.

Inside, retired astronaut and Navy captain Mark Kelly told lawmakers that he and his wife, Giffords, support the Second Amendment, but he said the right to bear arms shouldn't extend to criminals and the mentally ill.

Kelly compared the different background check requirements for private and retail sales with having two different lines at the airport, one with security and one without.

"Which one do you think the terrorist is going to choose?" he asked.

Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman from Tucson, Ariz., was severely wounded in a mass shooting in January 2011 while meeting with constituents.

Gun control opponents say the proposals will not reduce violence. They say lawmakers should focus on strengthening access to mental health services for people who could be dangerous to communities.

The bill hearings were at times testy, and included some outbursts from the audience. After one bill passed, someone leaving the committee yelled "That sucks!" to lawmakers.

"I've never seen such unprofessional behavior," Democratic Sen. Irene Aguilar told the audience at one point.

The commotion at the Capitol underscored the attention the debate has generated nationally fromgun rights groups, such as the National Rifle Association, to victims' families and White House officials.

One of the nation's largest producers of ammunition magazines, Colorado-based Magpul, has threatened to leave the state if lawmakers restrict the size of its products. Its founder said smaller magazines can be easily connected to each other and the company fears it would be legally liable if people were to do that.

Victims who have lost relatives to gun violence say it's time for legislators to take action.

Tom Sullivan, whose son Alex was among the 12 killed in the Aurora theater shooting, was among the people urging lawmakers to pass magazine restrictions.

"He was enjoying the movie one second, and then the next second he was dead," Tom Sullivan said.

Jane Dougherty, whose sister, Mary Sherlach, was a psychologist killed in the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., has been lobbying Colorado lawmakers to pass new gun laws. She said she doesn't understand gun owners who worry the bills are putting a burden on their rights.

She said the Connecticut shooter used "the same type of weapon that we use in war" to "slaughter these babies" and asked lawmakers for stricter gun laws.

"We cannot wait for yet another massacre to transpire," Dougherty said.

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Associated Press writer Alexandra Tilsley contributed to this report.

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Low on ammo, rebels drive in northern Syria slows

MAARET AL-NUMAN, Syria (AP) — The rebels' capture of this strategic city was a key success in their advances in northern Syriaagainst regime forces. But it's so far proven an incomplete victory. Maaret al-Numan remains a shell of a city.

One major reason: Rebels have been unable to take a large regime military base on the edge of the city. Artillery fire from Wadi Deifand other nearby government strongholds regularly thuds into its largely empty residential buildings, while warplanes pound surrounding villages. The vast majority of the population has fled and it's too unsafe for them to return.

The fighters have the base surrounded, and deserters have told them the 350 troops from President Bashar Assad's army inside are short on supplies, outnumbered and isolated. But the rebels have supply problems of their own, with few bullets and fewer still specialized anti-tank weapons needed to deal the final blow to the base, where some three dozen tanks and armored vehicles are holed up.

"If I had ammunition, I could take Wadi Deif in 24 hours and stop the destruction of this town," said Sair Mandil, the commander of the local rebels. He spoke from his command post, set up in a 17th century caravan trading post that had been turned into a local museum. The caravanserai's old stone walls can withstand rocket strikes better than the city's more modern buildings.

This is one of dozens of small stalemates across northern Syria that have fueled rebel frustration over the international community's reluctance to provide their fighters with heavier and more weapons. The United States said last week it will begin providing non-lethal aid to the rebel fighters — mainly food and medicine . But rebel commanders say that without stronger arms they cannot take larger military bases and solidify their advances.

Over the past months in Idlib province, where Maaret al-Numan is located, rebels have overwhelmed a string of towns and villages, capturing military checkpoints and installations. But the bigger the base, the harder a nut it is to crack, giving the military a continued foothold.

In that way, Idlib is shaping up much like neighboring Aleppo province, to the northeast. Last year, rebels took over Aleppo province nearly entirely, gaining unquestioned control of towns and border crossings into Turkey. But they have been unable to take a number of key bases, from which regime artillery and relentless airstrikes continue to harry rebel towns. The province's capital, Aleppo city, remains one of the country's bloodiest battlegrounds as rebels and regime forces fight over it.

Rebel control in Idlib is similar. Idlib city, the province's capital, remains almost completely in regime hands, as do some of the province's larger towns. But the pattern is the same: Rebel control spreading, but undermined by the regime's hold on crucial bases.

Perhaps the rebels' biggest victory in Idlib province has been in Maaret el-Numan. The battle for the city began in October, with rebels systematically capturing the army's outposts in the town. The last to fall was an army post in a restaurant on the highway, leaving the town in their control. The city is strategic because it sits astride a major supply route linking the capital, Damascus, with Idlib city and, further to the north, Syria's largest city and commercial hub, Aleppo.

Some small signs of normal life have returned. A handful of shops have reopened. Rubble has been cleared away from most major streets. An Islamic court has been set up to resolve local disputes, one of the few vestiges of any sort of administration.

But only around 3,000 of its estimated 85,000 inhabitants remain in the city, local activists say. There is little electricity and no running water. Most residents have dispersed into the countryside or to refugee camps on the Turkish border.

Sometimes the regime's strikes cause casualties. Latifa Baqoul's two children were caught in a blast at their house in a nearby village in mid-February. Ahmed, 5, manages a brave smile as his parents show journalists the burn covering much of his lower back. But his 4-year-old sister Bushra, wounded in the arm, bursts into tears.

"God stop the planes," their mother sobs.

In the countryside elsewhere in the province, other units have found their progress stalled for lack of ammunition. So they have largely gone into a holding position. On a recent day, a squad from the Knights of the North rebel brigade moved up a rocky hillside to survey nearby regime outposts, probing for any weak points.

"To strike these positions, it will cost us losses. We're going to see if we can take them or not," said the brigade's military leader, a 37-year-old former manager of a cement company who goes by the nom de guerre of Abu al-Yiman. He spoke on condition his real name not be used for security reasons.

Their mission complete, the squad returns to its base in caves of the Jebel al-Zawiya hills. The thick limestone overhead protects against all the heaviest weapons in the army's arsenal, while carpets on the walls keep out the damp.

This unit of the Knights of the North was formed largely by locals in the Jebel al-Zawiya area. In the uprising's early days two years ago, Abu al-Yiman had joined peaceful protests against the regime, but when troops cracked down on the marches, he and others fled to the hills to create the brigade. It remains closely bound by family and local village ties — its political wing is headed by Abu al-Yiman's cousin, who was a businessman in Europe. Old men from nearby villages come to their cave hideouts to pay courtesy visits and roll tobacco together, while men dance the traditional debka to revolutionary songs.

Its non-ideological nature is a contrast to the well-supplied Islamic militant groups, like Jabhat al-Nusra, which have increased their profile in the rebel movement, often by dashing to the scene of crucial battles while local forces hold the line.

One member of the Knights, Abu Yazzan, says he tried a stint with one of the Islamic movements, the Falcons of Syria, but found it to be all, "Zeal, zeal, Islam, Islam." Smoking was banned and members scrupulously obeyed the rituals of the puritanical Salafi movement.

Abu Yazzan, who also spoke on condition he be identified by his nickname for security reasons, said he left to join the more easygoing Knights. Like most Syrian rebels they pray, and many grow heavy beards, but between operations they return to the rhythms of small-town life rather than hard core religious indoctrination. No one objects to the photos of fashion models on young fighters' laptop screensavers or motorcycle seats.

The rebels say they get most of their ammunition from capturing army positions, with a trickle brought from abroad by smugglers and supporters or distributed by the rebel Free Syrian Army's still nascent command. Heavy infantry weapons like wire-guided missiles or recoilless cannons, which are capable of punching through tank armor at long range, are rare.

Their fallback weapon, the handheld rocket-propelled grenade launcher, is useful for short-range urban ambushes. But it's little use in sieges of bases like Wadi Deif.

So for now, they hold. In the deserted buildings outside the walls of Wadi Deif, young rebels squint down the barrels of machineguns fitted through holes in the concrete, looking for any sign of movement inside the complex.

At a checkpoint on the road leading to the base, located about 500 meters (yards) from the edge of the city, a grinning Syrian rebel who goes by the nickname Ziko flips open his PKC light machinegun to show a band of 25 rounds. This is all the ammunition he has.

His comrade Mohammed Shahna points out at the highway toward Wadi Deif.

"If a tank were to come down this road, what could we do?" he asks.

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Victims raise legal questions about retired pope

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Attorneys who have tried unsuccessfully for years to sue the Vatican over failures to stop clergy sex abuse are looking into whether former Pope Benedict XVI is more legally vulnerable in retirement, especially if he travels beyond the Vatican walls.

A U.S. lawyer for the Vatican argues that, like any former head of state, Benedict retains legal immunity regardless of whether he is in or out of office. But advocates for victims say immunity in this case should be tested, since modern-day courts have never before dealt with an emeritus pope.

"So much of this is unprecedented," said Pamela Spees, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, which is pressing the International Criminal Court to investigate the Vatican's response to abusive priests as a crime against humanity. "There's nothing set in stone about it."

Benedict stepped down last week, becoming the first pontiff in six centuries to do so. Before he became head of the Roman Catholic Church in 2005, he spent more than two decades in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that over the years gained authority to oversee abuse claims against clergy worldwide.

Still, his record on trying to end abuse stands above that of many other church officials.

Benedict spoke openly of ridding the church of "filth" and was the first pontiff to meet directly with victims, during a 2008 visit to the U.S.

He instructed the Rev. Marcial Maciel, founder of the conservative Legion of Christ religious order, who was favored by Pope John Paul II, to leave the ministry and lead a life of prayer and penance. Maciel had been accused for years of abusing young men.

Benedict also ordered bishops worldwide to craft guidelines on protecting children and keeping abusers out of the priesthood. Jeffrey Lena, a U.S. attorney for the Vatican, said that Benedict deserves "tremendous credit" for "recognizing the problem and helping to change the church's approach."

However, advocates for victims have criticized his reforms as half-steps.

As evidence, they point to the Maciel case. The pope never disclosed what the influential priest had done wrong. Only later was it confirmed that Maciel had molested seminarians and fathered at least three children. In Ireland, where church leaders had shielded guilty clerics from prosecution for decades, the Vatican during Benedict's pontificate refused or ignored repeated requests from state investigators for access to its case files.

Benedict's lengthy record dealing with the scandal before he was pope plays a part in the complaint against the church with the International Criminal Court. The court prosecutor, who can decide whether to open an inquiry, has not said whether he will act. Lena has called the effort, which was first filed in 2011, "ludicrous."

Spees said Benedict's resignation would play no role in the longshot case before the International Criminal Court. The world's only permanent war crimes tribunal, its prosecutor does not take into account traditional immunity claims.

However, she and others argue that at a minimum Benedict's resignation could help reduce resistance by prosecutors or other officials to take action against him.

Advocates point to how attitudes changed in the United States, where police and prosecutors once allowed local church officials to deal privately with priests' misconduct. After thousands of civil lawsuits revealed the scope of the abuse scandal, some American civil authorities began aggressively investigating whether Catholic leaders did enough to protect children.

And in staunchly Catholic Ireland, revelations by state investigators about abuse there led to an unprecedented dressing down of the Vatican in 2011 by Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

"They reframed the question," said Timothy Lytton, an Albany Law School professor and author of the book "Holding Bishops Accountable: How Lawsuits Helped the Catholic Church Confront Clergy Sex Abuse."

"Before 1984, nobody talked about it. Police wouldn't investigate it. Now, books are being written on the responsibility of the pope. All over Europe there are questions about the Vatican's role in all this and that is largely the results of lawsuits," he said.

Still, no lawsuit against the Vatican has come anywhere near a trial stage, and it's unclear whether Benedict will now be any easier to reach.

Of the thousands of abuse lawsuits filed against church officials, only a small number have named the Vatican as a defendant. They have come mostly from the United States, with a few from Ireland. In 2005, just months after the conclave that elected Benedict, a U.S. judge in Texas dismissed a lawsuit, ruling the pope had immunity as a head of state. The U.S. Justice Department had filed a motion arguing that allowing the suit to proceed would be "incompatible with the United States' foreign policy interests."

Many other lawsuits never got off the ground for a more mundane reason: No suit can proceed until the targeted person is officially notified.

Notes Lytton: "You can't hire a county sheriff to fly to Rome to knock on a door." Jeff Anderson, a Minnesota attorney who has represented thousands of clergy abuse victims over three decades, including in lawsuits against the Vatican, said in one case the Holy See returned the notification he sent stamped, "Do Not Want. Not Welcome."

Anderson says the lawsuits he has filed target the office of the papacy, not the man who served in it, so Benedict's resignation has no significance for any future U.S. civil suits.

Where the pope's novel status as a retiree could come into play, Anderson says, is if a government decides to take action against him.

Benedict has said he will retreat to a life of prayer in a monastery behind Vatican walls, leading victims groups to wonder whether preserving the former pope's legal immunity played a role in his choice of where to live out the rest of his days.

Lena insists immunity played no role in Benedict's decision. If the former pope does travel to another country, Lena said, he will be afforded the same dignities and protections given to any former high-ranking official. While the Vatican prepares the monastery for Benedict, he is staying in the town of Castel Gandolfo in the papal summer retreat which is technically part of the Holy See. The Vatican also has legal treaties that govern relations with Italy and many other countries and could provide additional protection from any legal action.

Still, some attorneys who fear Benedict will be targeted say they worry about the broad powers European magistrates hold to take legal action on behalf of their own citizens.

Nicholas Cafardi, a canon lawyer and professor at Duquesne Law School in Pittsburgh, who has worked with American bishops on abuse prevention, noted that in Europe, magistrates can, among other actions, arrest and detain officials before any trial. Next month, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which has been a leading critical voice against bishops in the United States, plans a conference in Dublin for victims of abuse worldwide.

"Americans don't appreciate the vast powers that investigating magistrates have in Europe," Cafardi said. "It only takes one who wants to make a name for him or herself to issue an arrest warrant for the former pope."