An internal inspection in Munich, where the former pope Benedict XVI served as archbishop from 1981-1977, found that a senior Catholic Church official knew of the rapes committed during his tenure on minors.
"Let him know the facts," said attorney Martin Push, a member of the team who announced the findings of the investigation at the Westpfahl Spilker Wastl law firm.
"We believe he can be charged with misconduct in four cases. Two of these cases relate to abuse committed during his tenure," he added.
According to the lawyer, in the years of the reported cases, the attackers remained in office and were transferred to the care of the church.
On behalf of Joseph Aloys Ratzinger (94) who left the Holy See in 2013 and became "Pope Emeritus", the findings of the investigation are rejected.
"He claims he did not know about certain facts, even though we believe it is not so, as far as we know," Push explained.
The revelation of the deeds also embarrasses Francis, the current pope and successor of Benedict, in light of his reform attempts at an institution with millions of believers around the world.
In June last year the pope rejected the resignation of Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the archbishop of Munich, the capital of the state of Bavaria in light of the exposure of several cases of indecent acts in which a number of priests were allegedly involved in the German church.
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