BERLIN: Former Pope Benedict XVI has failed to prevent child sexual abuse, according to a German investigation. The report was released by Westphal Spilker vassal (WSW), a German-based law firm. The investigation was into how cases related to child sexual abuse were handled in the Archdioceses of Munich and Freezing between 1945 and 2019.
From 1977 to 1982, Benedict XVI was the former Pope, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Munich. His name was Joseph Rathsinger. Pope Benedict XVI, 94, is reported to have made the 82-page statement in response to questions from the WSW.
He was pope from 2005 to 2013. He resigned in 2013. Benedict XVI was the first pope to resign in 600 years.
There have been a series of reports in Germany that children have been sexually abused by a number of Christian priests. According to a 2018 report by the German Bishops’ Conference on Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Church, 1,670 priests sexually abused 3,677 minors in Germany between 1946 and 2014.
Benedict denied the allegations.
