Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI helped cover up a chaplain convicted of sexual assault in the 1980s when he was Cardinal and Archbishop of Munich, Germany, according to a church document released Tuesday by various German media outlets.
Chaplain Peter H. was transferred from the Diocese of Essen to the Diocese of Munich-Freising in 1980 after the ill-treatment of several minors. Upon learning of the accusations, the authorities did not clarify them, but forced him to undergo psychological therapy.
The then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as Archbishop of Munich-Freising, knew that the chaplain had committed abuses, but still approved his transfer and did not report the case to the Vatican, as it was his obligation, according to an extrajudicial order of the ecclesiastical court. Archdiocese of Munich and Freising 2016.
After the broadcast, approved by Ratzinger, the priest continued the bullying, for which he was sentenced to 18 prison terms in 1986, prompting the church authorities to transfer him again, this time to Garching in southern Germany.
Joseph Ratzinger “was ready to confess to priest H. that he was aware of the situation,” says the document quoted by the public broadcaster ZDF and the weekly Die Ziet.
Thus, the document accuses the honorary Pope Benedict XVI and other church authorities of not fulfilling their “obligations” to “children and adolescents under their pastoral care,” according to an investigation by two media outlets.
According to the document, Ratzinger and other authorities associated with this case never reported this to the Vatican, which “does not allow any other consequences” other than “they deliberately refused to punish for the crime.”
Through his personal secretary, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI denied that he knew of the records of Priest X. “therefore, he did not violate his obligation to inform Rome,” according to statements cited by the ZDF.
Peter H. was not removed from the priesthood until 2010, so the document also criticizes the current Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who in 2008 asked for a psychiatric opinion on the chaplain’s mental state, transferring it again after abdicating the throne. initiate an internal investigation.
In June 2021, Pope Francis rejected Cardinal Marx’s resignation after he stepped down to protest sexual abuse of minors by members of the Catholic Church in Germany.
