GERMANY
The Times (UK)

David Charter, Berlin
July 18 2017
The Times

The brother of Benedict XVI, the former pope, was today named partly responsible for a culture of abuse at a Catholic choir school in Germany where at least 547 boys were victims of physical or sexual assault.

Georg Ratzinger ran the prestigious Domspatzen (cathedral sparrows) choir in Regensburg from 1964 to 1994 and admitted slapping boys, which he said was common practice at the time, but denied knowledge of sexual abuse.

A lawyer brought in to investigate the allegations, some going back to 1945, said in his final report that Mr Ratzinger, 93, could be blamed “for looking away or for failing to intervene”.

The report on the 1,000-year-old school counted 500 cases of physical violence and 67 of sexual violence, committed by a total of 49 perpetrators. Some boys were victims of both…