Jan 21, 2022

Former Pope Benedict XVI failed to take action against clerics in four cases of alleged sexual abuse in his archdiocese when he was Archbishop of Munich, a report found on Thursday, compounding a scandal engulfing the Catholic Church.

The former Pope has previously denied wrongdoing over the cases.

Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW) was asked in 2020 to investigate allegations of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising between 1945 and 2019.

The report, commissioned by the archdiocese, said there were at least 497 victims of abuse, mainly young males.

Many other cases had probably not been reported, said the lawyers.

It also found fault with the current Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, 68, in two suspected cases.

Marx, who is not under any suspicion of having participated in abuse, apologised to the victims of historic sexual abuse in his archdiocese.

Marx said changes had already been started in the last 10 years but more was needed, and stressed the importance of pushing ahead with the “Synodal Path”, a movement aimed at giving lay Catholics more influence over the running of the church.

“Now is the time to pick up the momentum that the report gives and to take further steps into the future,” said Marx whose offer of resignation last year over the abuse crisis was rejected by Pope Francis.

Marx said the archdiocese would carefully read and analyse the report and present a full response next week.

Ex-Pope failed to take action
A spokesperson for the former Pope did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Benedict, now aged 94, has been living in the Vatican since resigning as pontiff in 2013.

In a statement not mentioning the former Pope, the Vatican said it would evaluate the full report and examine its details.

The WSW lawyers were tasked with finding out who knew what happened in the archdiocese and any action they took.

Attention has focused on Pope Benedict XVI — born Joseph Ratzinger — who was Archbishop of Munich and Freising between 1977 and 1982.

No interest’ shown to victims
Presenting the report, lawyer Martin Pusch said Ratzinger had done nothing against the abuse in four cases and there appeared to be no interest shown to the injured parties.

“In a total of four cases, we have come to the conclusion that the then Archbishop Cardinal Ratzinger can be accused of misconduct in cases of sexual abuse,” said Mr Pusch.

“He still claims ignorance even if, in our opinion, that is difficult to reconcile with the documentation.”

The lawyers also accused Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising since 2008, of misconduct in two suspected cases of abuse.

REUTERS