At Least 231 Children Were Abused during Former Pope Benedict Xvi's Brother's Watch

By Walter Einenkel
Daily Kos
January 12, 2016

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/12/1468829/-At-least-231-children-were-abused-under-Former-Pope-Benedict-XVI-s-brother-s-watch?detail=facebook


When Pope Benedict left the leadership position of the Catholic Church, after a rather short term, many speculated the Catholic Church realized that having a man who looks sort of scary—with a German accent, who may or may not have Nazi ties, and a lot of child sexual abuse skeletons in his closet, wasn’t the best idea. But maybe he was just a little too old for the torrid schedule of a Pope? Maybe it’s a family issue.

At least 231 children who sang in a boys’ choir led for 30 years by the brother of former Pope Benedict XVI were abused over a period of almost four decades, a lawyer investigating reports of wrongdoing said Friday.

The lawyer, Ulrich Weber, who was commissioned by the choir to look into accusations of beatings, torture or sexual abuse, said he thought that the actual abuse was even more widespread.

This breaks out to about a third of the children under Rev. Georg Ratzinger (Benedict’s brother).

Asked whether Benedict’s brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, who conducted the Regensburg choir from 1964 to 1994, had known of the abuse, Mr. Weber said, “After my research, I must assume so.”

Most of the abuses are alleged to have been perpetrated by Johann Meier, a director of a school connected with the choir between the years 1953 until 1992. Meier has since died.

Mr. Weber started investigating the Regensburger Domspatzen, as the choir is known, in 2015 and said he had interviewed dozens of victims and figures in charge. He said at least 40 of the 231 abuse cases also involved sexual violence, “from fondling to rapes.” Most cases are too old for legal action now, he said.