Storm over Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, accused of not having put an end to the abuses of a priest in his diocese, despite being aware of it.
The German weekly Die Zeit reports this, according to which there is an extrajudicial decree of the ecclesiastical court of the archdiocese of Munich and Freising in 2016 which criticizes the behavior of the other prelates who have not stopped the work of Peter H., a clergyman accused of 23 cases of sexual abuse of minors between the ages of 8 and 16 between 1976 and 1993.
Among these high prelates who have kept silent even knowing there is also Joseph Ratzinger, archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982.
The Pope Emeritus and the Vicars General "have not lived up to their responsibilities towards the young people and children entrusted to their pastoral care", reports the document.
The text also reads that the priest Peter H. was guilty of abuses in the diocese of Essen, then continuing in that of Munich, and that Ratzinger was aware of it.
"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had accepted Peter H. with full knowledge of the facts", it is written in the document. In 2016, ecclesiastical judges decided to punish Peter H. with a three-month salary payment to the Tabaluga Children's Foundation. Furthermore, in retirement, he was no longer allowed to exercise the priesthood. Instead, he was spared the maximum penalty, that is, dismissal from the clergy.
(Unioneonline / L)
