Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is severely implicated in an independent report, presented Thursday, January 20 in Germany, on sexual assaults on minors in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising, which he directed between 1977 and 1982. The cardinal German Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger – his name before he became pope – did nothing to remove four clerics suspected of pedophile acts, said lawyers from the firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl in this report.
In a reaction transmitted to the lawyers of this report mandated by the Church, the pope emeritus rejects ” strictly “ any responsibility: a position that the authors of the report do not consider ” not credible “, lawyer Martin Pusch told a press conference.
In two cases, they were members of the clergy who had committed multiple assaults, including by courts, Pusch said. The two priests remained in the church and nothing was done, he accused.
Experts said they were convinced that Joseph Ratzinger was aware of the pedophile past of priest Peter Hullermann, who arrived in 1980 from North Rhine-Westphalia in Bavaria, where he continued abuse for decades without being worried. In 1986, a court sentenced him to a suspended prison sentence. He was then transferred to another Bavarian town. In 2010, this priest was forced into retirement.
Joseph Ratzinger denied knowing the past of this priest, whose case made headlines in 2010, during the pontificate of Benedict XVI.
“Protecting the Institution Church”
The report’s authors also singled out Cardinal Reinhard Marx, current archbishop of Munich and Freising, for being negligent over suspected child sexual abuse by two priests. It was precisely Cardinal Marx who commissioned the report. He must express himself on his conclusions during the day.
Lawyer Marion Wetspfahl denounced “the frightening phenomenon of cover-ups” systematic cases of violence once morest minors between 1945 and 2019 – period covered by the report – aiming “to protect the institution of the Church”. ” Taking into account “ the victims “remains insufficient from many points of view, also following 2010”, when the first pedophile scandals in the German Church were revealed, added Mr. Pusch.
Following the publication of this report, the Vatican reiterated its “feeling of shame and remorse” for sexual violence committed by clerics on minors. “The Holy See assures all the victims of its proximity”, declared to the journalists Matteo Bruni, director of the press room of the Vatican, specifying that the Vatican was going to take note of the report, of which it does not know the contents yet.
The Munich investigation constitutes a new chapter in the elucidation of acts of pedocrime that affect the Catholic Church throughout the world. Four years ago, a report revealed that at least 3,677 children had been sexually abused since 1946 by more than a thousand clergy in Germany. Most have never been sanctioned. Since then, each diocese has commissioned local surveys.
After an official apology, the Church has set compensation – deemed insufficient by the victims – of up to 50,000 euros per person, once morest 5,000 euros so far.
It remains to be seen what consequences these revelations will have. Last year, the Archbishop of Hamburg Stefan Hesse, implicated for negligence in the treatment of cases of pedocrime in the diocese of Cologne, where he had officiated, had submitted his resignation to Pope Francis, who refused it. Cardinal Marx had also resigned in June for “share responsibility for the disaster of sexual abuse committed”. Here too, the pope declined.
