Word: pope
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Church officials in Munich said the Pope, who as Joseph Ratzinger was Archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982, was involved in the decision to house the priest at the archdiocese so he could receive therapy. But the archdiocese insisted that the decision to reassign the priest to pastoral work was taken by Archbishop Ratzinger's then deputy, Vicar General Gerhard Gruber, who said he took full responsibility for the decision to allow the priest to return to work. Father H was convicted in 1986 of sexually abusing minors, receiving a suspended prison sentence and a fine. Despite the jail...
...because he had violated the conditions under which he was allowed to work, which prohibited contact with young people. Church officials in Munich said there were no new reports of sexual abuse linked to the priest. His superior, Prelate Josef Obermaier, resigned on Monday. (See Pope Benedict's sex-abuse challenge...
...very disappointing that the Pope has kept silent on this issue," says Chris Weisner, spokesman for the Catholic reform group We Are Church. "Many Catholics in Germany had hoped that the Pope would have expressed a word of personal sympathy for the victims of abuse," he said. Indeed, on the Good Friday before Ratzinger became Pope in 2005, he issued a resounding call for reform in the church, saying, "How much filth there is in the church, and even among those ... in the priesthood" - widely believed to have been a reference to the abuse scandals affecting the church's standing...
...Vatican issued stern statements over the weekend suggesting there was a plot to smear the Pope. The head of Germany's Catholic Church, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, held a private audience with the Pope at the Vatican on Friday. After their meeting, the head of the German Bishops' Conference said he'd briefed the Pope on the situation in Germany. "With great shock, keen interest and deep sadness, the Holy Father took note of what I had to say," Zollitsch told reporters. The Archbishop said the Pope had encouraged German bishops to proceed with "determination and courage" in investigating the allegations...
...German clergy scandal has reached into the Pope's family...