A report on abuse by clergy in Pope
Benedict’s former Archbishopric of Munich shows that at least 159
priests were suspected of sexual or physical abuse while the actual
number is thought to be considerably higher.
Marion Westphal, the former judge who compiled the report for the
Catholic Church from files and interviews of people who worked there,
said files had been systematically destroyed over decades in order to
hide the abuse.
The role of Pope Benedict XVI while archbishop of Munich between 1977
and 1982, could not be clearly defined, said Westphal, but she described
the record keeping during that time as catastrophic.
After working through more than 13,200 files dating back to 1945,
Westphal said church staff had focussed on preventing a scandal rather
than on the problem of abuse itself.
There was indications of abuse in 365 files, despite what she said was a
systematic attempt to cover up the problem, according to Der Spiegel on Saturday.
Only 26 cases of sexual abuse resulted in convictions of priests, she
noted, but said that there was sufficient proof of such allegations
against at least 17 more priests.
Two priests were convicted of other physical abuse charges, although Westphal said 36 other cases could have been proven.
Westphal said there were enormous holes in the record keeping of the
bishopric, with some files such as convictions and reasons for transfers
from the bishopric not even retained.
“We are dealing with extensive destruction of paperwork,” she said.
In one case this included much information about the involvement of the Pope – then Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger.
She said there was evidence in the files that he dealt with one case
where a priest accused of sexual abuse was prevented from continuing to
work as a priest.
Ratzinger wrote him a long letter explaining the reasons for this
decision. But the poor state of the files means it cannot be determined
whether any charges were pressed against him.
Westphal said she did not think this was likely to have been the case,
but said that Ratzinger would probably not have dealt with that decision
personally as such things were left to the vicar General.
The German parliamentary leadership has been debating whether to invite
Pope Benedict to address the Bundestag during his visit next year,
according to Bild newspaper.
Nobert Lammert, parliamentary president, from the Christian Democratic
Union, referred to an invitation from 2006, to which the Vatican did not
reply, as reason to invite Benedict to address parliament.
The first supporters of the idea have already started to speak out,
according to the report, with Christian Social Union interior affairs
expert Norbert Geis saying it would be a ‘huge honour’ for the
parliament.
SIC: TLDE/INT'L