Word: regensburg
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Even the famous choir of Regensburg, led for 30 years by the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger, was drawn into the scandal after former choirboys said they had endured brutal beatings and sexual abuse. Georg Ratzinger, now retired, said he was unaware of sexual-abuse cases but said he regretted slapping members of the choir. Franz Wittenbrink, a former singer who lived at the Regensburg boarding school connected with the choir from 1958 to 1967, tells TIME it is "unimaginable" that Ratzinger hadn't heard about sexual abuse during his time as director. Wittenbrink claims there was a "widespread system...
...sexual abuse scandal first broke in January when it was alleged that two former priests molested pupils at Berlin's Jesuit school, Canisius College. Since then, dozens of people have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse levelled against former priests. The scandal has even spread to the famous Regensburg Cathedral choir - which was led by the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger for 30 years - and there've been up to a hundred allegations of abuse at a boarding school run by Benedictine monks in Ettal, Bavaria, which was raided by state prosecutors. Germany's Catholic Church has pulled...
...alleged perpetrators. That was the catalyst. Within weeks, dozens of victims came forward with accusations at other Catholic schools and institutions. With up to 200 allegations of abuse, 22 out of Germany's 27 Roman Catholic dioceses have been affected by the scandal. Even the famous choir of Regensburg, in Bavaria, which the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger led for 30 years, has been drawn into the scandal, after former choirboys described a "system of sadistic punishments and sexual lust." (The retired Georg Ratzinger says he didn't know about the alleged sexual-abuse incidents.) (See pictures of Pope Benedict...
...Others, however, claim Ratzinger must have known more at the time. Franz Wittenbrink, a former singer who lived at the Regensburg boarding school connected with the choir from 1958 to 1967, tells TIME it was "unimaginable" that Ratzinger hadn't heard about cases of sexual abuse during his time as director. Wittenbrink alleges that there was a "widespread system of sadistic punishments and sexual lust" at the school and in the choir. He says he was physically abused by young men in training to become priests at the school who would routinely smack him on the bottom with their hands...
Lefebvre's successor, Monsignor Bernard Fellay, has defended the new ordinations, noting that his group and the Catholic Church as a whole need new priests. But Gerhard Müller, the bishop of Regensburg, the official Catholic diocese with oversight of the German ordinations, recently stated that without Vatican permission the new priests and the ordaining bishop could be excommunicated. The Vatican released a statement Wednesday that the ordinations "must be considered illegitimate," though no mention was made of excommunication. The brief note from the Holy See also referred to the Pope's letter to bishops in March that outlined...