Former pope Benedict XVI knowingly failed to take action to stop four priests accused of child sex abuse in Munich, according to the findings of a damning independent report presented on Thursday.
The ex-pontiff — who was the archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982 — has “strictly” denied any responsibility, said lawyer Martin Pusch of Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW), which was commissioned by the church to carry out the probe.
But the experts do not consider this credible, he said.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni emphasised that it must still examine the report, “the contents of which are not currently known”, but reiterated the Vatican’s “sense of shame and remorse for the abuse of minors committed by clerics”.
Two of the cases where Benedict — whose civilian name is Josef Ratzinger — allegedly failed to act involved clergymen who had committed several proven acts of abuse but were allowed to continue with pastoral duties, Pusch said.
An interest…
Source: Guardian Newspaper
