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Previously, the pope emeritus had claimed to have no knowledge of the abuse cases that occurred while he was archbishop of Munich. Later, in a statement published by his private secretary, he stressed that “this did not happen in bad faith, but as a result of carelessness in the editing of his testimony.”
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI acknowledged this Monday, January 23, that he was at a meeting in January 1980 on a sexual abuse case while he was Archbishop of Munich, assuring that a writing error was to blame for his earlier statement that he was not there.
At that meeting, more than 40 years ago, the transfer to Munich of a priest accused of abusing minors was discussed, according to the Catholic News Agency (KNA).
The priest, identified by German media as Peter H., is one of the central cases in the report in which Benedict XVI was accused of misconduct in a total of four cases, brought by the Westphal law firm Spilker Wastl ( WSW).
However, Joseph Ratzinger, the name of origin of Benedict XVI, has affirmed that in that session there was no mention of the priest Peter H. being in charge of pastoral work, but only informing him of “making it possible for him to have accommodation in Munich during his therapeutic treatment.
The priest in question committed abuses again in the archdiocese of Munich and was transferred once again, this time to Bavaria.
The private secretary of the emeritus pope Benedict XVI, Georg Gänswein, emphasized that in said meeting of 1980 “it was not decided about a pastoral mission of the mentioned priest, but the request to give him accommodation in Munich during the psychological treatment to which he underwent”.
“This mistake hurts him a lot, and he apologizes,” Gänswein added.
A report accuses Benedict XVI of “not taking action” against abuses
A report published on January 20 on abuses committed in the archdiocese between 1945 and 2019 indicates that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger did nothing against clerics in four cases of possible abuse that occurred between 1977 and 1982, when he was archbishop. .
“In a total of four cases, we have come to the conclusion that the then Archbishop Cardinal Ratzinger can be charged with misconduct in cases of sexual abuse,” attorney Martin Pusch said last Thursday when the report was presented.
The document exposes the abuse of at least 497 victims, mostly young men; however, the researchers consider that the figure may be higher, taking into account that there could be cases that were never reported.
94 years old, with serious health problems and with the Vatican as his home since he resigned as pontiff in 2013, when he was succeeded by the Argentine Jorge Bergolio, Ratzinger entered the wave of pederasty scandals in the Catholic Church that points to several priests, bishops and collaborators of the clergy of different nationalities.
On October 5, another report shook the foundations of the Catholic Church in France by revealing that at least 200,000 minors suffered sexual abuse from 1950 to 2000.
With Reuters AP and EFE
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