The indications that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was aware of cases of pederasty in the Church and covered them up when he was Archbishop of Munich are becoming even more obvious.
Joseph Ratzinger now acknowledges that he was present at a meeting of the archbishopric in January 1980 in which the transfer of a priest accused of abuse was discussed.
Ratzinger thus corrects the statement he sent to investigators who last week presented a devastating report that reveals at least 497 cases of abuse in the Bavarian archdiocese.
The 94-year-old pope emeritus has assured in statements quoted by the Catholic News Agency (KNA, for its acronym in German) that the change is due to "an error without bad intention" during the process of writing his allegations.
Ratzinger sent the law firm in charge of the investigation an 82-page letter in which he denied having been present at the meeting and having knowledge of any case of pederasty during his time as head of the diocese.
The report made public last week suggested that the pope emeritus was not telling the truth.
The researchers point out that it is "very likely" that the then archbishop was aware of that specific case and three others.
In addition, the lawyers found the minutes of that meeting, in which he was not listed as absent and it is also recorded that he intervened.
The independent investigation commissioned by the archdiocese of Munich and Freising has revealed that between 1945 and 2019 there were at least 497 cases of child abuse committed by 173 priests, and suggests that the number could be much higher.
Joseph Ratzinger was archbishop between 1977 and 1982. In the response he sent from Rome, he denied any responsibility in the concealment of the cases, but the investigators accuse him of knowing about abuses and not having acted.
The case discussed at the controversial 1980 meeting is that of the priest Peter H., a clergyman from North Rhine-Westphalia who abused children in his home diocese and was later sent to the Munich archdiocese, where he returned. to commit assault and was criminally convicted.
"Shame and pain"
Ratzinger now says, in a statement collected by the KNA, that at that meeting there was no talk of allowing the priest to carry out pastoral work, but only of offering him "accommodation in Munich during his therapeutic treatment." The private secretary of the Pope Emeritus has added that later he will offer more extensive statements regarding the report, but that at this moment reading the document fills him with “shame and pain”.
In recent days there have been criticisms of the behavior of the pope emeritus, which last Friday was branded as "disastrous" by the president of the German Episcopal Conference, Georg Bätzing, according to Efe.
The bishop of Aachen, Helmut Dieser, demanded in his sermon this Sunday that Ratzinger assume the responsibility that corresponds to him.
“It cannot be that those responsible slip away with references to the fact that they did not know anything or that then there was another situation or other procedures,” he stated.
