© Provided by The Daily Beast
The retired Pope
Benedict XVI has come forward with an unusual confession. Rather than sticking
with a highly contested denial that he knew nothing about the scores of
predatory priests who were moved around German parishes when he was in charge
of the Munich diocese, he now says he did know about at least one of them.
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In a statement issued over the weekend first
to German media outlets and then to the Catholic News Agency, Benedict’s personal secretary Georg Gänswein
sought to correct the record for the ailing ex-pontiff.
Gänswein admitted that Benedict did tell
independent investigators hired by the German Catholic Church that he had no
recollection of his proven attendance at a hearing about Father Peter
Hullermann, a priest accused of abusing at least 23 boys aged 8 to 16. Gänswein
says Benedict “would now like to make it clear that, contrary to what was
stated during the hearing, he took part in the ordinariate meeting on Jan. 15,
1980.” Hullermann went on to allegedly abuse children until he was finally
pulled from active priesthood in 2010.
“The statement to the contrary was therefore
objectively incorrect,” Gänswein said in a statement about what the former pope
told investigators. “He would like to emphasize that this was not done out of
bad faith, but was the result of an error in the editing of his statement. He
will explain how this came about in the pending statement. He is very sorry for
this mistake and asks for this mistake to be excused.”
Video: Abuse report in
German diocese faults retired pope (Associated Press)
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Abuse report in German
diocese faults retired pope
Last week, the German law firm commissioned to
investigate the German church found that before he was elected pope, Joseph
Ratzinger was directly involved in at least four cases of predatory priests who
he approved to be reassigned in full knowledge of multiple abuse allegations
against them. Benedict led the Munich diocese from 1977 to 1982, when he was
promoted to the Holy See to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.
But at the meeting in question, those in
attendance who cooperated with the law firm’s investigation said Hullermann’s
troubling situation was indeed discussed and that it was decided that since he
admitted to sexually abusing a child, he would be given accommodation in
Munich—under Ratzinger’s charge—while he received therapy. He was not at that
time removed from active parish duty or kept from children. That would come
later—when he was moved to a tourist parish in 2008 where he was described as
“outgoing and friendly—especially with young people.”
Gänswein sought to clarify Benedict’s
position—when he errantly told the investigators he wasn’t at a meeting he
clearly attended—as an “editing error” referring to the agenda of the meeting,
rather than whether he was there. “Objectively correct, however, and documented
by the files, is the statement that no decision was made in this meeting about
a pastoral assignment of the priest in question,” he said. “Rather, only the
request to provide him with accommodation during his therapeutic treatment in
Munich was granted.”
As it happened, an underling in the Munich
diocese, Monsignor Gerhard Gruber, went on to accept all responsibility in
Hullerman’s transfer. Benedict is now expected to issue further clarification,
according to Gänswein, after he has completely reviewed the 1,900-page report
by German investigators.
Benedict, now 94, was the first pope in more
than 400 years to retire in 2013. His successor, Pope Francis, has not publicly
commented on the German church scandal. The Vatican press office referred all questions
to Gänswein.
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