Ratzinger, in a letter on abuses in Munich, speaks of "very great guilt" for those who commit abuses but also for those who do not face them.
In the meetings with the victims "I looked into the eyes of the consequences of a very great guilt and I learned to understand that we ourselves are dragged into this great guilt when we neglect it or when we do not face it with the necessary decision and responsibility, as too often is happened and happens ".
"I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church. The greater is my pain" and "every day he asks me if even today I should not speak of very great guilt".
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI returns to ask for "forgiveness", on behalf of the Church
, considering the important roles that he himself has covered, due to the abuses committed by the clergy.
In the letter commenting on the report on pedophilia in the diocese of Munich he recalls his encounters with victims on apostolic journeys as Pope and writes: "As in those meetings, once again I can only express my deep shame, my great pain and my sincere request for forgiveness. I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church. The greater is my pain for the abuses and errors that have occurred during the time of my mandate in the respective places. Every single case of sexual abuse is terrible and irreparable. My deepest compassion goes to the victims of sexual abuse and I regret every single case. "
"I am particularly grateful for the trust, support and prayer that Pope Francis has personally expressed to me", underlined the Pope Emeritus in the letter in which he replied to the dossier on the abuses in the diocese of Munich that involved him.