Benedict XVI has apologized to the victims of sexual abuse in the Church, for which he says he feels “deep shame and pain”, but he flatly denies having covered up the cases of which he is accused by a devastating report commissioned by the Munich archdiocese and made public last January. The pope emeritus promised a detailed response, and he gave it this Tuesday in the form of a personal letter accompanied by a technical report in which his collaborators, experts in canon law, dismantle the accusations of inaction.
Joseph Ratzinger assures in the letter that he never knew of the case of an abusive priest who was housed in the Munich Archdiocese under his authority as archbishop and that the change in his statement to the abuse investigators was due to an “unintentional error”. . The 94-year-old prelate, who has lived in retirement in a Vatican monastery since his resignation in 2013, apologizes for the attacks – “I can only express to all the victims of sexual abuse my deep shame, my deep pain and my sincere request for forgiveness” – and acknowledges that “mistakes” were made under his mandate.
On January 20, the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising published a conclusive 1,700-page report in which a law firm compiles evidence of at least 497 cases of abuse committed between 1945 and 2019 by at least 235 perpetrators, including 173 priests, and suggests that the number could be much higher. The lawyers described it as “balance of horror” during the press conference in which they presented the work.
Joseph Ratzinger was archbishop from 1977 to 1982, before becoming prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Holy Office) at the Vatican. Investigators accuse the pope emeritus of knowing and failing to act in four of those cases, most notably that of a priest who was transferred to Munich from another diocese in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia where he had already committed abuse. In his new assignment, he returned to pastoral work and committed new sexual assaults for which he was criminally convicted. The report accuses Ratzinger of lying because in his allegations he said he had not participated in a meeting in which that case was discussed, when the minutes show that he was present.
A few days after the bombing of the Munich report exploded, Benedict XVI acknowledged through his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, that he had not told the truth in the 82-page statement he sent to the law firm, but attributed it to an “unintentional error”. He now offers a more detailed explanation of how this “transcription error” occurred and insists that he was unaware that the priest, referred to in the German press as Peter H., had committed abuses in his home diocese. . The meeting in which the religious’s transfer was discussed took place on January 15, 1980 and is one of the main pieces of evidence used by investigators to accuse the pope emeritus of inaction.
Ratzinger regrets in the letter, made public in several languages by the Vatican press office, having been branded a “liar” and attributes the error to the “hard work” that his team required to answer the questions from the law firm. “It was deeply painful to me that this oversight was used to question my veracity and even label me a liar,” he says. He adds that he has also received many messages of support, such as the one from the current Pontiff: “I am particularly grateful for the trust, support and prayer that Pope Francis personally expressed to me,” he assures.
“I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church,” continues the pope emeritus. “All the greater is my pain for the abuses and errors that occurred in different places during the time of my mandate. Every case of sexual abuse is horrific and irreparable. My deep compassion goes out to the victims of sexual abuse and I am sorry for each and every case.” The letter concludes: “Soon I will face the final judge of my life. Although looking back on my long life I may have many reasons for fear and fear, I am in a joyful frame of mind because I firmly trust that the Lord is not only the righteous judge, but also the friend and brother who has himself already suffered my misfortunes. shortcomings and is, therefore, as a judge, at the same time my lawyer”.
In addition to the personal letter, the Vatican has released a report signed by the experts who wrote the 82-page response to the team of lawyers tasked with writing the report on the Munich abuses. It is entitled “Analysis of the facts by the collaborators of Benedict XVI” and in it four experts in canon law explain point by point how the carelessness that according to their interpretation has caused the accusations against Benedict XVI occurred.
The authors explain that one of the collaborators of the pope emeritus had to analyze more than 8,000 pages of documentation in a short space of time and made a “transcription error.” He relied on a note and did not ask Ratzinger directly if he had been present or not, they add. And this, “due to the rush with which he had to verify the document in a few days, given the limits imposed by the experts, he did not realize the error.”
The legal team therefore testifies that the pope emeritus was present at the controversial meeting in 1980, but stresses that there was no talk of the priest being accused of abuse, nor was it discussed whether he was going to carry out pastoral activity. Only, they affirm, it was valued to give him accommodation in Munich because that was where he was going to undergo therapy. The reason he needed therapy was not mentioned, according to his account. In any case, the report insists, it cannot be said that Benedict XVI lied or knowingly gave false testimony.
The collaborators of Benedict XVI deny the rest of the suspicions to which the Munich law firm points. His report spoke of three other cases that the pope emeritus was aware of and that he covered up by failing to act against the abusers. According to Ratzinger’s legal team, there is no evidence that this was the case and they affirm that the accusations are based on “the subjective opinion of the experts, who say that it is highly probable.” They also do not accept the accusation that the then archbishop minimized “the exhibitionism” of one of the priests under suspicion. They assure that his words about him were misunderstood.
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