The former pope of the Catholic Church Benedict XVI asked “forgiveness” on Tuesday for sexual violence against minors committed by clerics when he had responsibilities in the Church, while ensuring never having covered of a pedophile priest. “I can only express, once again, to all the victims of sexual abuse my deep shame, my great pain and my sincere request for forgiveness”writes Joseph Ratzinger, 94, in a letter in response to an independent report published on January 20 in Germany and accusing him of inaction when he was archbishop of Munich, from 1977 to 1982. “I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church. My pain is all the greater for the abuses and errors that have occurred during my mandate in different places.“, he added.
Report targets ex-pope
The report by the firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW) listing more than 400 victims of sexual violence in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising had severely implicated the pope emeritus, accusing him of having done nothing to remove four clergymen suspected of sexual violence against minors. In a document also sent Tuesday by the Vatican, four advisers to the pope emeritus refute the accusations of the 8,000-page report they sifted through for him. “As Archbishop, Cardinal Ratzinger was not involved in any act of cover-up of abuse”assure these four advisers, referring to information “inaccurate” contained in the German report. At the end of January, Benoit XVI had rectified his statements to the authors of the text, acknowledging that he had participated in a key meeting in 1980 on a German priest suspected of sexual assault, Peter Hullermann, saying to himself “sorry for this mistake” but refuting all “bad faith”.
“Very big fault”
saying to themselves “deeply affected by the fact that this error was used to doubt my honesty, even to present me as a liar”the former German pope thanked Pope Francis, who did not speak publicly on the subject, “for the confidence, the support and the prayer” that he “expressed to him personally”. Benoit XVI, however, confessed to having “looked straight in the eye at the consequences of a very big mistake”. “Soon I will face the ultimate judge of my life. Although, looking back on my long life, I may have many reasons for dread and fear, my heart remains joyful”added Benedict XVI, who lives retired in a monastery in the Vatican and whose state of health appears increasingly fragile.
With AFP.