The AP’s story on Joseph Ratzinger’s direct involvement in delaying for six years the defrocking of a priest who had confessed to tying up and raping minors ends any doubt that the future Pope is as implicated in the sex abuse crisis as much as any other official in the church.
Even worse, the boys were pre-teens. Local bishops wanted the priest fired. The priest requested he be defrocked. Ratzinger refused, citing bad publicity for the Church. The priest continued to rape children for several more years. None of these facts are in doubt and Ratzinger’s signature is on the letter.
We see a man utterly corrupted by power and institutional loyalty.
So when does he resign?
Related news:
A Texas youth has filed a lawsuit alleging rape at gunpoint by a local priest and that the bishop, soon to be cardinal of Los Angeles, should have known.
In truly stomach-turning language, the Vatican now says it is willing to meet with sex abuse victims to take part in the Church’s healing process. Truly, it is deeply noble and self-sacrificing of the Vatican to deign to meet with those raped and abused by their own clergy so as to help the Church, not the victims, heal.