FORMER POPE BENEDICT ASKS FOR FORGIVENESS OVER CHILD ABUSE SCANDAL

Tue 08 February 2022:

Former Pope Benedict has apologized for mistakes made while archbishop of Munich in handling sexual abuse cases and sought for forgiveness, despite his attorneys’ claims that he was not directly to blame.

Following a report released last month by German investigators on abuse in the archdiocese from 1945 to 2019, the Vatican sent a letter from Benedict and a three-page addendum on Tuesday.

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When Benedict was archbishop of Munich between 1977 and 1982, the investigation accused him of intentionally failing to stop four priests accused of child sex abuse.

“I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church. All the greater is my pain for the abuses and the errors that occurred in those different places during the time of my mandate,” he wrote in the letter, his first personal response to the report.

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“I have come to understand that we ourselves are drawn into this grievous fault whenever we neglect it or fail to confront it with the necessary decisiveness and responsibility, as too often happened and continues to happen … once again I can only express to all the victims of sexual abuse my profound shame, my deep sorrow and my heartfelt request for forgiveness.”

In one section he openly wondered if he, as all Catholics do in a prayer known as the Confiteor at Mass, should ask for forgiveness for what they have done and what they have failed to do “by my fault, by my most grievous fault”.

He does not answer his own question but says he is consoled that God forgives.

In the letter, Benedict says that despite any mistakes he may have made, God would be the ultimate arbiter. “Quite soon, I shall find myself before the final judge of my life.”

Benedict, who resigned unexpectedly in 2013, also thanked Pope Francis for the “confidence, support and prayer … personally expressed to me”. He did not elaborate.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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