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BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest whose decades-old molestation of a former altar boy led to a $6.3 million payout in an Illinois lawsuit has been kicked out of the priesthood by Pope Benedict XVI.

Diocese of Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton announced the move involving 78-year-old Raymond Kownacki in a statement published in a recent edition of the diocesan newspaper, The Messenger. Braxton says the papal decree calls the defrocking "for the good of the church."

Kownacki is living in a St. Louis-area nursing home and has refused media requests for interviews. He has not been charged criminally.

Kownacki's misdeeds resulted in a $5 million jury award against the diocese to James Wisniewski in 2008. That payout grew to $6.3 million to reflect interest that accrued while the diocese appealed.

The last person involved in what authorities describe as the worst case of child abuse in St. Charles County history has been sentenced.

John Scott Thomas III will spend 30 years in his prison for his role in the June 2011 abuse case. Thomas, along with his girlfriend and another man, sexually assaulted three young girls, ages 7 months, 3 years, and 5-years-old. The abuse took place at Tee Kay Mobile Home Manor in an unincorporated area of the county near O'Fallon.