The Munich public prosecutor’s office announced on Friday that it was investigating possible responsibilities of 42 clerics in cases of sexual abuse of minors in Germany, a day after the publication of a report accusing high-ranking church officials, including the ex-pope Benedict XVI.
The law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW), author of the report commissioned by the Catholic Church, “made available” to the prosecution in August 2021 information on alleged misconduct by 41 ecclesiastical officials, a spokeswoman for the prosecution told AFP , Anne Leiding. Another case was presented in November.
“These cases are part of the report, they refer exclusively to living ecclesiastical officials and have been transferred [a la fiscalía] under the strict anonymity of the people concerned,” he said.
If after studying the cases, the prosecution considers that they fall within the scope of criminal law, it will ask the firm for additional information, he said.
The authors of the report on Thursday denounced the systematic and “terrifying” cover-up of cases of child abuse between 1945 and 2019 in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising, and blame their leaders at the time, including the current Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, of not having done anything in several cases to prevent child abuse.
Joseph Ratzinger is accused, before he became pope, of not having taken any action to remove four clerics suspected of sexually abusing minors in this archdiocese, which he led between 1977 and 1982.
From the available files and testimonies, the lawyers identified a total of 497 victims between 1945 and 2019, mostly children and adolescents, and 235 alleged aggressors, mainly priests.
The Munich lawyers’ report “shows clearly and shockingly, once again, the scale of abuses and derelictions of duty by church dignitaries,” Christiane Hoffmann, a spokeswoman for Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said on Friday.
