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  Church Only 'Transferred' Pedophile Priests

Press TV
March 13, 2010

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120742§ionid=3510212

EUROPE -- As Europe's rampant clerical sex abuse scandal continues to tarnish reputation of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI is drawn into the controversy.

New disturbing revelations on Saturday from his home country of Germany questioned the Pope's judgment in addressing sexual and sadistic abuse against child pupils by priests.

Pope Benedict XVI and German Bishops' Conference, Robert Zollitsch, hold a meeting on abuse allegations involving the Catholic Church on March 12, 2010 in Vatican.

His former archdiocese of Munich has admitted to mishandling a case involving a suspected pedophile priest. This occurred during the late-70s and early-80s, when the Pope was the Archbishop of the Bavarian capital.

The suspected pedophile chaplain, identified only as "H," was transferred to a different parish, where he was allowed to return to his pastoral work in the 1980s and continued sex offences against children until he was suspended years later.

The diocese said the Pope had approved his transfer so he could receive therapy but that a subordinate has assumed accountability in allowing "H" to return to reassume his position.

The Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi, downplayed the new reports, saying they emphasized the Pope's "non-responsibility," according to The New York Times.

Before ascending to the papacy in 2005, Benedict was a prefect of the Vatican office dealing with such crimes.

The scandal has not rested since 2006, when the Catholic Church paid USD 1.5 billion (EUR 1.2 billion) in financial settlements with sex abuse victims in the United States.

In recent months, its has haunted the Church's Europe institutions, with hundreds of alleged victims in Ireland, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands complaining that they suffered abuse as students during the 70s and 80.

In Germany, the controversy deepened when it was alleged in January that for over three decades priests thought to be sexually or physically abusing children were systematically redeployed to other parishes rather than being dismissed.

On Friday, the head of the German Catholic bishop's conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, met with the Pope to discuss the issue. He reported that Benedict had encouraged his quest for the truth while expressing "great dismay and deep shock."

Zollitsch says the allegations of abuse now piled up to over 170 cases.

 
 

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