Former Pope Benedict Accused Of Misconduct On Handling Sexual Allegations

 

According to a law firm that releases the investigation – Westphal SpilkerWastl – e-pope Benedict XVI which is he is still an archbishop then as Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger of Munich and Freising failed to act properly of cases of sexual abuse then under his tenure among the clerics and seen to be protecting them.

“According to law firm Westphal Spilker Wastl (WSW), which conducted the investigation, Benedict failed to prevent abuse of minors during his tenure as archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982. "In a total of four cases, we reached a consensus there was a failure to act," said attorney Martin Pusch, who presented the WSW report. Two cases involve priests who were legally charged with child abuse and were allowed to continue their work in the church as pastors.  The church also took no official disciplinary action against the clergymen, and it appears that no care was given to their victims. Another case revolved around notorious child abuser Peter H., who was transferred from Essen in western Germany to the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in 1980, while Benedict, Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger at the time, led the archdiocese. Current Munich Archbishop Reinhard Marx has also been accused of failing to intervene in two cases of abuse. The WSW report found at least 497 cases of abuse at the Archdiocese of Munich between the years 1945 and 2019. The mistreatment mostly involved young males….. Former Pope Benedict XVI has been accused of failing to take action in four child abuse cases in Germany. A new report found that the former head of the Catholic Church covered up clerical sexual abuse between 1977 and 1982, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, archbishop of Munich and Freising.”(DW)