GERMANY
The Independent (UK)
Lizzie Dearden @lizziedearden
More than 200 children in a choir formerly conducted by the former Pope’s brother may have been beaten and sexually abused over almost four decades in Germany.
There is no suggestion that Georg Ratzinger was involved in the alleged crimes, which are now the subject of an investigation, and he denies knowledge of the incidents.
Mr Ratzinger, the elder brother of Pope Benedict XVI, was a led the Regensburger Domspatzen boys’ choir from 1964 to 1994.
The choir, based at St Peter’s Cathedral in Regensburg, Bavaria, traces its origins back to the 900s and is famous throughout Germany and beyond, performing for the Queen during a state visit and being commemorated with a 2003 postage stamp.
Ulrich Weber, a lawyer leading the probe commissioned by the Catholic diocese of Regensburg, said the 231 alleged victims included 50 who made “plausible” claims of sexual abuse at the choir and two associated boarding schools between 1953 and 1992.
More than 140 people were interviewed as part of his eight-month investigation, which included that almost a third of all pupils at the schools in Etterzhausen and Pielenhofen suffered some form of abuse, including sexual assault ranging from touching to rape.
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