Munich Abuse Report: Bishops of Aachen and Limburg criticize Benedict

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Aachen Bishop Helmut Ders: "Even bishops, even a former pope, can be guilty"

Photo: Henning Kaiser / picture alliance / dpa

The Munich abuse report has shaken the Catholic Church in Germany.

The Aachen bishop Helmut This calls for a public admission of guilt by the emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.

»It cannot remain the case that those responsible take refuge in references to their ignorance or to other circumstances or other procedures at the time.

Because that's why the perpetrators weren't stopped at the time and children continued to be abused by them!" said the latter on Sunday in his sermon in Aachen Cathedral.

The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, also complained about "disastrous behavior" from the leaders of the church and warned: "It has been covered up and hushed up for long enough, now is the time for truth."

Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, led the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982.

A report commissioned by the Archdiocese itself comes to the conclusion that cases of sexual abuse in the diocese have not been dealt with appropriately, have been covered up or ignored for decades.

Benedikt's role is particularly explosive.

He is accused of four cases of misconduct from his time as Archbishop of Munich.

He has denied the allegations in a statement of defence.

The evaluators assume that on some points in all likelihood he was not telling the truth.

Believers would have to justify still belonging "to this association".

"Even bishops, even a former pope, can become guilty, and in certain situations they have to confess this publicly, not just in prayer before God or in the sacrament of confession," warned Peter, who belonged to the camp of reformers in the bishops' conference will.

more on the subject

• After abuse report: Federal government calls on the Catholic Church to work through

• Abuse report from Munich: "The church has failed in two ways" An interview by Annette Langer

• New abuse report against the Catholic Church: 1900 pages of shame by Felix Bohr and Annette Langer

• Archdiocese of Munich and Freising: the public prosecutor examines 42 cases after reports of abuse

The inability to feel his own responsibility, to admit guilt, to ask for forgiveness, or even to express regret and pain at his own part in the tragedy makes him sad and angry.

"The fact that the former Pope Benedict hasn't done that yet shouldn't be his last word on the matter!"

Bishop Bätzing of Limburg called for people to face the truth, no matter how painful that might be.

One must clearly see what "disastrous behavior" was done by the leadership and leaders of the church "up to and including an emeritus pope," said the chairman of the bishops' conference on Friday evening in a service in the Trier district.

He knows that this situation weighs enormously on many believers.

They would have to justify to friends and family that they still "belong to this club."

EKD: There is also sexualized violence in Protestant communities

The judiciary is currently examining whether the results of the report are relevant under criminal law.

According to the Munich public prosecutor's office, they are currently investigating 42 cases of alleged misconduct by church officials.

The chairwoman of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Annette Kurschus, sees systemic reasons for the many cases of sexual abuse in the church.

"There are church patterns and structures that encourage sexualised violence," Kurschus told the "Rheinische Post" on Saturday.

"These are different in the Protestant Church than in the Catholic Church."

There is also sexualized violence in Protestant communities and institutions: "It has destroyed trust." It is a long process to win it back.

abl/dpa