Pope Emeritus Benedict 16 admitted this Monday (24) to having participated in a meeting on January 15, 1980, in which the situation of Father Peter Hullermann, accused of sexually abusing dozens of minors in Germany, was discussed.
At the time, Benedict was Archbishop of Munich and accepted that Hullermann, whose crimes were already known to the church, would act there.
The statement, made through his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, and published by the Catholic News Agency, contradicts the denials that the pope emeritus has been making for years about the case and comes at a time when investigations about its omission go ahead with the publication of a report.
The text attributes confusion about his presence at the meeting to an error in previous statements given by Benedict 16. “He would like to emphasize that this was not done in bad faith, but was the result of an error in editing his statement,” the statement reads. “He is very sorry for this mistake and apologizes.”
The case involves Father Peter Hullermann, who, between 1973 and 1996, allegedly abused at least 23 boys aged between 8 and 16 while in different positions in the church. A 2016 ecclesiastical decree of the Archdiocese of Munich, which the German media had access to, shows that the institution criticized the behavior of clerics, including Joseph Ratzinger – the name of Pope Benedict 16.
Hullermann initially worked in the diocese of Essen, but, in the face of complaints from family members of the abused children, he was removed. Upon leaving Essen, he was accepted by Pope Benedict 16 into the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in January 1980.
For years, the pope emeritus claimed that he had not participated in the decisions on the reception of the pedophile priest, which would have been carried out by a subordinate. The version was little credited by scholars of the Catholic Church hierarchy, for whom such a scenario would represent the then archbishop’s unusual lack of authority.
The argument continues to be used. Also in this Monday’s statement, Benedict 16 says that there was an error about his participation in the meeting, but that the meeting in question did not have as its agenda the decision on the pastoral assignment to Hullermann, which would have been conferred later.
An independent report published last Thursday (20) accused Benedict of covering up cases of sexual abuse against children.
“He knew the facts,” said attorney Martin Pusch, who was part of the investigation. “We believe he can be charged with misconduct in four cases. Two of them relate to abuses committed during his tenure and punished by the state, and in both, the perpetrators remained active in pastoral care.”
The investigation was commissioned by the Archdiocese of Munich, from which the pope emeritus said goodbye in 1982, and has counted at least 497 victims of abuse between 1945 and 2019. other cases may never have been reported.
Most victims were male, and 60% of them were between 8 and 14 years old. The 235 perpetrators of the abuses include 173 priests, 9 deacons, 5 pastoral workers and 48 school personnel, the report highlights.
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