VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg
By Margaret Carlson Feb 12, 2013
Nothing distinguished the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI so much as the way in which he is leaving.
We should be grateful that he realizes his body is failing him — most people in power do not — and is abdicating. But let’s not forget that it was Benedict who stood mostly mute as the sexual abuse of children by priests continued.
Benedict had a chance to be a great pope in one way and one way only: by recognizing the evil and dealing with it even when it meant punishing powerful prelates. He did not.
He had an opportunity to do so when he was appointed in 1981 to lead the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was charged with dealing with the cascading number of sexual abuse cases. That appointment was odd given that when he was archbishop of Munich, Benedict — then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — had approved the transfer of priest and child molester Peter Hullermann. Even as he learned of the hundreds of Hullermanns and became the most knowledgeable high- ranking church official on the subject, Ratzinger chose to protect priests, bishops and cardinals at the cost of ignoring legions of abused children.
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