The pope emeritus Benedict XVI expressed his “shock and shame” at pedophilia in the church after the report accusing him of passivity in cases of child abuse in Germany, said his private secretary, Monsignor Georg Gänswein.
Benedict XVI, 94, “expresses his shock and shame at the abuse of minors committed by clerics, and expresses his personal closeness and his prayers to all the victims,” Gänswein told the press, specifying that the pope emeritus “has not read even the 1,000-page report” involving him.
“In the next few days he will examine the text with the necessary attention,” assured the priest, citing the report prepared at the request of the local church by the Westpfahl-Spilker-Wastl law firm.
According to the document, the pope emeritus did nothing to prevent several priests from sexually abusing minors in the German archdiocese that he headed in the 1980s.
The lawyers believe that Benedict XVI, who was archbishop of Munich and Freising between 1977 and 1982, took no action against four suspected churchmen.
Two of those cases involve clerics who committed various abuses proven by the courts but were allowed to continue their pastoral duties, according to the report.
The pope emeritus — whose civil name is Josef Ratzinger — “strictly” denied any responsibility, a position that for the authors of the report “is not credible.”
The Vatican reiterated this Thursday his “shame” and “remorse” for the sexual abuse of children in the church, in an official statement.
The portavoz of the Pope, Matteo BruniHe also stressed that the Vatican “does not know the content” of the report and confirmed that the church “will follow the path it has taken to protect minors, guaranteeing them a safe environment,” he said.
At least 497 people suffered abuse in the Munich-Freising archdiocese, in a period of almost 74 years (from 1945 to 2019), according to a summary of the document published by Vatican News.
Most of the victims were male and 60% were between 8 and 14 years old.
Among the 235 authors of the abuses, there are 173 priests, nine deacons, five pastoral agents and 48 people from the school environment, the text underlines.
