Logo
Sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth | Donate

Report accuses retired pope of mishandling abuse


Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI prepares to board a flight at Munich Airport in Freising, Germany, June 22, 2020. Associated Press/Photo by Sven Hoppe/DPA

Report accuses retired pope of mishandling abuse

Two years ago, the Munich diocese commissioned a law firm to investigate how churches handled abuse cases between 1945 and 2019. The firm released the 1,900-page report Thursday, describing nearly 500 victims in the 74-year span and instances when leaders did not punish perpetrators. Most of the victims were young, and at least 173 priests were identified as abusers.

What are the allegations? The firm pointed to four cases in which former Pope Benedict XVI, 94, known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when he was archbishop of the diocese between 1977 and 1982, allowed priests to continue working despite evidence of sexual abuse. He was accused of letting a convicted priest serve in the Munich diocese and approving the transfer of a pedophile priest to Munich to undergo therapy in 1980. Pope Benedict has denied knowledge of most of the cases. The law firm said that although he provided extensive testimony for the report, some claims were not consistent with church files.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Kiley Crossland’s report on attempts to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.


Carolina Lumetta

Carolina is a WORLD reporter and a graduate of the World Journalism Institute and Wheaton College. She resides in Washington, D.C.

@CarolinaLumetta


An actual newsletter worth subscribing to instead of just a collection of links. —Adam

Sign up to receive The Sift email newsletter each weekday morning for the latest headlines from WORLD’s breaking news team.
COMMENT BELOW

Please wait while we load the latest comments...

Comments