As the Cardinal Archbishop of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger let a pedophile work in his diocese. The London Times reports
The Pope was drawn directly into the Roman Catholic sex abuse scandal for the first time tonight as news emerged of his part in a decision to send a paedophile priest for therapy. The priest went on to reoffend and was convicted of child abuse but continues to work as priest in Upper Bavaria.
The priest was sent from Essen to Munich for “therapy” in 1980 when he was accused of forcing an 11-year-old boy to perform oral sex. The archdiocese confirmed that the Pope, then a cardinal, had approved a decision to accommodate the priest in a rectory while the therapy took place.
The priest, identified only as “H”, was subsequently convicted of sexually abusing minors after he was moved to pastoral work in nearby Grafing. In 1986 he was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and fined 4,000 marks ($2,800 in today’s money). There have been no formal accusations against him since.
The church has been accused of a cover-up after at least 170 accusations of child abuse by German Catholic priests. The scandal broke in January but the claims, which continue to emerge, span three decades. Critics say that priests were redeployed to other parishes rather than fired when they were found to be abusing children.
The archdiocese of Munich and Freising said there had been no complaints against the priest during the therapy at a Church community in Munich. It said the decision to allow him to continue work in Grafing was taken by Gerhard Gruber, now 81, and then Vicar General of the archdiocese.
The Vatican noted in a statement that Monsignor Gruber had taken “full responsibility” for the priest’s move back into pastoral work but did not comment further.
Monsignor Gruber said the Pope, who was made a cardinal in 1977, had not been not aware of his decision because there were a thousand priests in the diocese at the time and he had left many decisions to lower level officials.
“The cardinal could not deal with everything,” he said. “The repeated employment of H in pastoral duties was a serious mistake… I deeply regret that this decision led to offences against youths. I apologise to all those who were harmed.”
However, he did not indicate whether the convicted paedophile would be allowed to continue working in the Church.
The Pope was Archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982, then moved to Rome as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a post he held until his election as pontiff five years ago after the death of John Paul II.
“H”, the priest, went on to work in an old people’s home for two years after his conviction then moved to the town of Garching where he became a curate and later a Church administrator. In May 2008 he was removed from his duties in Garching and was not allowed to work with your people, but he still works in the diocese, according to the newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which broke the story.
In the cases in Germany I have studied, I have noticed that German courts give far lighter punishments for abuse than American courts do (this is true of all crimes).
Also note that the abuser was allowed to work in a parish until 1998 and is still an active priest. The rules about Zero Tolerance that American bishops made in order to save themselves (and their bank accounts) do not apply outside the United States.
It would be astonishing if Ratzinger had delegated such a sensitive decision to an underling. That alone would indicate a failure to take responsibility.
As Edward Gibbons, no admirer of the clergy, recounted, Pope Gregory the Great took responsibility for the poor of the city of Rome. When a poor man was found starved to death in the streets, Pope Gregory suspended himself for a period as public penance for his failure.
John Paul and Benedict both failed to punish bishops who tolerated and enabled abuse. Perhaps Benedict could start by making an example of himself – and then proceed against other bishops. It would be a striking and historic confession of responsibility – it might redeem Benedict’s papacy, which is being tarnished almost beyond redemption by the continued revelations of sexual abuse by the clergy.
In some ways worse than the actual deed is that he must have had this on his mind (and, I hope, his conscience) throughout the last several years, yet kept it to himself. If this account is true, he probably should have declined the papacy when elected. (Although I am starting to fear that very few cardinals could have been found worthy if absolutely clean hands are needed.)
I don’t understand why people think that people in authority are “in the know”. We might want to ask a question of how much we each know about what the people who work under you do. I know that I don’t know. I don’t have the time either. I trust and sometimes to my chagrin, I find out it wasn’t right or enough.
Also – ask yourself if you even know what your significant others are doing? Of course he should take responsibility – I have yet to see him not do that – it’s just never going to be enough – is it. As a social worker I can tell you – nothing will make it go away. However, I don’t think we should become a lynch mob, which is what we are doing. Let’s keep in mind that the US didn’t have mandated reporting laws until the 1970’s – how many of our elders might be guilty of the same? how many of us rely as Ratzinger might have on the help of psychologists etc. How much do we really know what to do? nope, I’m not casting stones even though the whole situation is sickening.
Sorry, Mary, but that just doesn’t cut it here. Since the pope DID know of what this priest had been accused, then he had the responsibility to follow up. To plead ignorance is to sidestep responsibility. If a superintendent of a school district received knowledge that one of his/her teachers had been accused of sexually molesting children, it would automatically be his/her responsibility to follow through with that until the matter was somehow resolved (name cleared, person permanently removed from contact with children, etc.) This really has nothing to do with the law, but with the integrity a man has and with his concern for the safety of children.
All I can say is; that it doesn’t take a mastermind,(which most Roman Catholic priests are) to KNOW that sexually molesting a child or marginalized adult, would be in the category of a HORRENDOUS EVIL, that no one should tollerate! Let alone a person who claims to be the REPRESENTATIVE of Jesus Christ here on earth. No other Christian Church claims this superority! No other Christian Church HAS to HAVE you Confess your sins to THEM and not go directly to Almighty God when you feel you have offended HIM.
The priests enjoy hearing your sins and have at times been known to have an evening of hillarity, listening to TAPE RECORDERED sins of people they know in their parishes. They did this to a known, very famous priest. To be exact, Padre Pio, in Italy in the 60’s.,! It’s all written in a book, on this holy priest. Jealousy was their reason to start, then they found it to be quite a fun evening for themselves (these sexually surpressesd persons). That’s all for right now! There’s lots more!
The Catholics in the pews have kept themselves conveniently ingnorant of the details of the criminal act of sexual victimization of the children, young people and vulnerable adults of our church. Besides the perverse acts themselves, many of the priests, brothers, deacons, nuns and bishops, committed these crimes with GOD on their lips. In some cases, revered articles of the Catholic Faith were used, for, what can only be described as, “Sex Toys”, up to and including the Blessed Sacrament itself. The Catholic Laity have convinced themselves that this is all about the actions of a “Few Bad Apples” in the priesthood, followed by the coverup of a, “Few Bad Bishops”. Whether Catholics will awaken from thier comfortable dreamworld of fantasy, no one knows. Hlpefull, they will.
My prayer Victoria , is that God is revealing this to those HE loves and we must do everthing possible to let theWORLD know of these dastardly Crimes Against Humanityby the RCC. We are responsible to HIM for what and how we act in regard to people who claim” Jesus is Lord” and who really serve only themselves and the evil one.
Bishop Ratzinger was micromanager.Micromanager bishops do not say ,”OH I DO HAVE ANY CONCERN FOR MY PRIEST SENT FOR SEXUAL THERAPY,,CURED,NOT CURED !!..i am just the overseer of what goes on.’
Gloria, I am praying for you. You have apparently left the Catholic Church and embraced hatred.
To the last Gloria: Betrayal is perhaps the most power emotion any man or woman can experience. If Gloria Sullivan felt betrayed by the Catholic Church, how would you expect her to react? Unfortunately, there are many more “Gloria Sullivans” out there because the Church has not done its job of obeying Christ and, instead, has invested itself in secular prestige, power and wealth. What would St. Peter say, let alone Christ?
Gloria shame on you! You speak with such hatred for someone pretending to represent Christ. You forget Jesus Christ HIMSELF started the Catholic Church. Your church was started by a man. A weak and infallible man. YOUR church doesn’t have apostolic succession. YOUR church only has partial truth as Christ passed down all of his words orally, not everything was written down. The Scriptures are the word of God but there was more taught by Christ than just that. The Catholic Church is THE ONLY church on this planet with full communion with God. The Bible tells us this as much as history does. And you don’t understand the concept of Papal infallibility. It means the office of the Pope is infallible, the authority of the Pope is infallible. It does not mean the human being serving as the Pope is infallible. No human being can stand shoulder to shoulder with God. We are ALL sinners and weak and immoral in our own ways. Yet Christ came and died for us anyways because he LOVES us. I am praying for you Gloria. I pray you will allow the love of Christ to wash away such bitterness and hatred you seem to have for your brethren in the Catholic Church. Remember if it weren’t for the “evil RCC” your church would never have existed. You would never know Christ. Be grateful for those who have spread the word of God even to sinners like you and I.