NEW: Retired Pope Benedict XVI asks forgiveness for any “grievous faults' in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases, but admits to no personal or specific wrongdoing after an independent report criticized his actions while he was archbishop of Munich.
FILE - This Dec. 8, 2015 file photo shows Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI sitting in St. Peter's Basilica as he attends the ceremony marking the start of the Holy Year. Retired Pope Benedict XVI asked forgiveness Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022, for any “grievous faults" in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases, but admitted to no personal or specific wrongdoing after an independent report criticized his actions in four cases while he was archbishop of Munich, Germany.
Benedict, 94, was responding to a Jan. 20 report from a German law firm that had been commissioned by the German church to look into how cases of sexual abuse were handled in the Munich archdiocese between 1945 and 2019. Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, headed the archdiocese from 1977 to 1982.
The conclusion of Benedict’s advisers was resolute: “As an archbishop, Cardinal Ratzinger was not involved in any cover-up of acts of abuse,” they wrote. Furthermore, they said, the report provided no evidence that Benedict was aware of the criminal history of any of the four priests in question.
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