Pope Benedict: What ex-Cardinal Ratzinger threatens because of the abuse cases

The report on the cases of abuse in the diocese of Munich and Freising is also making waves outside the Catholic Church. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Justice emphasized that it was not a matter of purely internal church affairs. Wherever there are still indications of criminal acts that can be prosecuted, the responsible law enforcement authorities would of course have to investigate and pursue them consistently.

In particular, the question of the responsibility of Pope Benedict, the then Bishop Ratzinger, not only concerns believers and clergy, but also the Munich 1 public prosecutor’s office. Press spokeswoman and chief public prosecutor Anne Leiding did not want to give an assessment of whether the report against the emeritus pope would have criminal consequences. “We’re still checking,” she replies star-Inquiry. Possible offenses may include aiding and abetting sexual abuse, aiding and abetting physical harm and obstructing criminal prosecution. It is likely to be decisive which of the acts are already statute-barred and which are not.

Because the Law firm Westfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW) In her report commissioned by the diocese, she comes to the conclusion that cases of sexual abuse have not been dealt with appropriately in the diocese for decades and accuses the former archbishops Friedrich Wetter and Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI emeritus, of specific and personal misconduct several cases. On a star-WSW has not yet responded to inquiries about possible criminal consequences for the emeritus pope.

Joseph Ratzinger served as Archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982. During this time, he had done nothing against clerics accused of abuse in four cases, the experts said on Thursday in Munich. In a statement, Benedict “strictly” denied his responsibility.

In two of the four cases in which the experts see Ratzinger’s misconduct, it was about clerics who were accused of several acts of abuse, which were also attested by state courts, the authors explained. Both priests remained active in pastoral care, nothing was done in terms of canon law. An interest in the victims of abuse was “not recognizable” in Ratzinger.

Federal government calls for clarification

The federal government has called on the Catholic Church to carry out a comprehensive and transparent review of the cases examined. A government spokeswoman said on Friday in Berlin that the report once again made the extent of the abuse and breach of duty by church dignitaries clear in a “shocking way”. “The misuse and the subsequent handling of these acts is stunned. It is now all the more urgent that the full clarification and comprehensive processing be carried out.”

“Since this seems to be a never-ending story, the state should monitor all day-care centers and schools that are sponsored by the Catholic Church, or even consider withdrawing sponsorship,” said criminal law professor Holm Putzke. The churches should by law be treated the same as any other association. “There is absolutely no reason for any special consideration, you can also call it “bite inhibition”,” Putzke told the German Press Agency.

The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) and the Federal Government’s Abuse Commissioner, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, also called for more political influence. “I no longer believe that the church alone can do the work-up,” said ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp on Friday on RBB’s Inforadio and brought “a committee in parliament” into play.

Bishop demands consequences

Ruhr Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck has demanded concrete consequences from the Munich report on abuse in the Catholic Church. “Today we see clearly that responsibility must be taken – and responsibility is always personal,” he said on Thursday evening on ZDF. This includes “that the Vatican, that Pope Benedict also takes a stand”.

The report suggests, among other things, that Benedict was untrue about his knowledge during his time as Archbishop of Munich and Freising. “The hammer of this report is that we now know that Ratzinger is willing to lie publicly in order to evade his responsibility,” Doris Reisinger, the author and Ratziger critic, told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”. “How brazen or how desperate do you have to be to do something like that?”

According to his critics, it is not just the four cases of misconduct he is accused of that are likely to damage his reputation the most. Not even his constant assertion that he had “no knowledge”, even if the files say otherwise. Rather, his 82-page defense gives the impression that he has not really fully grasped the criminal nature of the abuse that destroys livelihoods. When Benedikt explains that abuser XY was an excellent priest and religion teacher who only attacked after work as a “private citizen”, then this must come across as mockery to the victims.

The “Benedict myth” begins to falter

The allegations are also problematic for the church because they shattered the carefully cultivated image of Benedict as a resolute investigator of cases of sexual abuse. This is the only way to explain the chutzpah with which Benedict is still being protected by high-ranking dignitaries. “Look, I haven’t read it, but it’s clear to me that as Archbishop Ratzinger he didn’t knowingly do anything wrong,” German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the former bishop of Regensburg, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera “. According to the 74-year-old, more is being said about Ratzinger than about the case of Priest H. or other priests who have committed crimes.

In his own words, Müller is not surprised. “In Germany, and not only there, people are interested in harming Joseph Ratzinger,” said Müller. Ratzinger represents an orthodox position, so to speak, but there are many in Germany who are pushing for a different position, such as the abolition of celibacy or women priesthood. This progressive line is disruptive, said Müller.

Further source:Report on cases of abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising (PDF).

with agency material