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Pope Benedict XVI
(Archive image): Error in the statement
Photo: Daniel Karmann / dpa
The Munich abuse report accuses Benedict XVI.
misconduct in dealing with sexual abuse during his time as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising.
The Pope Emeritus – whose real name is Joseph Ratzinger – rejected the allegations.
But now he corrects a central statement.
The specific case revolves around the priest Peter H. The clergyman from North Rhine-Westphalia is said to have abused many boys and was transferred to Ratzinger's diocese during his tenure, was reinstated as a pastor and years later was finally convicted of child abuse.
He is said to have relapsed again and again.
A decision was made at a meeting in January 1980 about the admission of the priest to Munich.
In a statement to the experts, Benedict XVI.
indicated that he was not present at that meeting.
However, Ratzinger did not list the minutes of the meeting as absent, which is why the experts doubted his statement.
Benedict XVI made mistakes.
"very sorry"
Several media, including Vatican News, are now reporting that Benedict has corrected his statement in a statement.
Accordingly, he did take part in the Ordinariate meeting on January 15, 1980.
However, the mistake "didn't happen out of bad faith," but was "the result of an error in the editing of his statement."
He is "very sorry" for this and he apologizes.
He would like to explain in a further statement how the mistake came about.
In the meeting at that time, however, no decision was made about a "pastoral assignment" of the priest.
However, the request was granted to allow the man “accommodation in Munich during his therapeutic treatment”.
In a statement on the Peter H. case, Benedict XVI.
finally also wrote that he "didn't know H. and had no recollection of the case either."
He also denied having known about the warning from a personnel officer from the diocese of Essen.
Priest H. is one of 235 alleged perpetrators identified in the abuse report by the law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW) for the Archdiocese of Munich.
As external auditors, the lawyers evaluated dozens of personnel files, minutes of meetings and estate holdings for the years 1945 to 2019 and interviewed 56 eyewitnesses.
Your report names a total of 247 male and 182 female victims.
Most of them were children and teenagers when the incidents happened.
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