Title: Ex-Pope Benedict accused of failing to act in Munich Church abuse report
BERLIN, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Former Pope Benedict XVI failed to take action against clerics in four cases of alleged sexual abuse in his archdiocese when he was Archbishop of Munich, a report found on Thursday, compounding a scandal engulfing the Catholic Church.
Benedict has previously denied wrongdoing over the cases.
Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW) was asked in 2020 to investigate allegations of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising between 1945 and 2019.
The report, commissioned by the archdiocese, said there were at least 497 victims of abuse, mainly young males. Many other cases had probably not been reported, said the lawyers.
It also found fault with the current Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, 68, in two suspected cases. Marx, who is not under suspicion of having participated in abuse, apologised to the victims. read more
Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the former pope’s secretary, said Benedict had just seen the report would “give the text the necessary attention” in the next few days.