German media accuse Benedict XVI of covering up abuse when he was archbishop

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI helped cover up for a chaplain convicted of sexual abuse in the 1980s, when he was cardinal and archbishop of Munich, according to an ecclesiastical document cited today by several German media. Chaplain Peter H. was transferred in 1980 from the bishopric of Essen to munich-Freising after abusing several minors; having knowledge of the accusations, his superiors did not clarify them but forced him to go to psychological therapy. Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in his capacity as archbishop of Munich-Freising, was aware that the chaplain had committed abuses, but still approved his transfer and did not report the case to the Vatican, as would have been his obligation, according to an extrajudicial decree of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising of 2016. the priest continued with the abuses, for which he was sentenced in 1986 to 18 months in prison, a fact that led the ecclesiastical leaders to transfer him again, this time to Garching, in southern Germany.Joseph Ratzinger “was willing to admit the priest H. having knowledge of the situation,” says the document, quoted by the public broadcaster ZDF and by the weekly “Die Zeit”. For this reason, the document accuses him and other ecclesiastical leaders of having breached their “responsibility” towards the “children and adolescents entrusted to their pastoral care,” according to the investigation of both media. According to the document cited by the media, Ratzinger and other officials linked to the case never informed the Vatican, which “does not allow to draw any other consequence” than that of “deliberately renouncing to sanction the crime.” Through his personal secretary, the pope emeritus denied having knowledge of the history of the priest H., “so he did not contravene his obligation to inform Rome,” according to statements quoted by ZDF. Peter H. was not removed from the priesthood until 2010, a fact for which the document also criticizes the current archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who in 2008 commissioned a psychiatric report on H. and transferred him again, renouncing however to open an internal investigation. In June 2021, Pope Francis rejected the resignation of Cardinal Marx, which he had offered as a gesture in the face of the abuse of minors by members of the Catholic Church in Germany.

Original source in Spanish