Critics have been accusing Benedict of misconduct for some time – specifically when dealing with a priest from North Rhine-Westphalia.
(Photo: imago stock&people)
Munich An expert opinion is on the emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. misconduct in dealing with four cases of sexual abuse during his time as Archbishop of the Diocese of Munich and Freising. The lawyer Martin Pusch said on Thursday at the presentation of the report commissioned by the Archdiocese in Munich. In all cases, Benedict – then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – strictly rejected any misconduct.
The Pope Emeritus was Archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982. Pusch emphasized that he had commented extensively on the allegations. This is included in the wording of the report.
Critics have been accusing Ratzinger of misconduct for some time – specifically when dealing with a priest from North Rhine-Westphalia. The man is said to have abused boys on many occasions and was transferred from North Rhine-Westphalia to Bavaria during Ratzinger’s tenure, where he was finally convicted of child abuse and is said to have repeatedly relapsed.
This case alone makes up 370 pages of the more than 1700-page report commissioned by today’s Archbishop Cardinal Reinhard Marx. Marx himself accuses the lawyers of misconduct in dealing with two suspected cases of sexual abuse. It is about reports to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome. Marx was not present at the performance.
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The report, which examined the period between 1945 and 2019, also accuses Ratzinger’s direct successor as Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, of misconduct in 21 cases. Wetter did not deny the cases, but misconduct on his part, said Pusch. His colleague, the lawyer Ulrich Wastl, spoke of a “horrible record”.
The study lists at least 497 victims. The law firm announced that the majority of these were male children and young people who became victims during the decades of the investigation period. According to the study, there were at least 235 alleged perpetrators – including 173 priests and 9 deacons. However, this is only the so-called bright field. A significantly larger number of unreported cases can be assumed.
The report also comes to the conclusion that many priests and deacons continued to be employed even after corresponding allegations became known. Despite this, 40 clerics were again active in pastoral care or this was tolerated. In 18 of them, this even happened after a “relevant conviction”, as lawyer Martin Pusch said. A total of 43 clerics failed to take “required measures of a sanction nature”.
The new report gives the Catholic Diocese a bad report. Even recently, there has been no “paradigm shift” with a focus on those affected, said Pusch. “Until recently, and in some cases still today, injured people encounter hurdles.” There is no active approach to the victims. Pusch sees a “general interest in secrecy” and the “desire to protect the institution of the church”.
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