Tag: mishandling

4 Essential Reads – Pope Benedict Accused Of Mishandling Sex Abuse Cases
IMPACT

4 Essential Reads – Pope Benedict Accused Of Mishandling Sex Abuse Cases

When Pope Benedict XVI resigned in 2013 – the first leader of the Catholic Church to do so in more than half a millennium – the sexual abuse crisis had already roiled the church for years. During the conservative theologian’s papacy, the church revised canon law and announced new guidelines in an effort to respond to clergy abuse. But a new report accuses Benedict of having mishandled at least four cases of sexual abuse when he was an archbishop in Munich, Germany, in the 1970s and 1980s. The investigation, which covers abuse in the diocese from 1945 to 2019, concluded that the former pope failed to properly act on claims or punish priests – claims Benedict has rejected. The accusations against a living, if retired, pope underscore how dramatically the sex abuse crisis has shaken the ch...