Pope Benedict XVI leaves uneven legacy with sex abuse scandal

The clerical sex abuse scandal erupted under Pope John Paul II in the years when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - who would later become Pope Benedict XVI - ran the Vatican's doctrinal office , which handled the cases of priests accused of abusing children.

With files, Cardinal Ratzinger sometimes triggered disciplinary measures, even defrocking accused priests . But other times, the record shows, he sided with the accused priests and didn't listen to the victims or their warnings that an abuser might rape more young people.

When Cardinal Ratzinger became pope, scandal erupted publicly throughout the global Church. It continues to reverberate, causing some to lose faith and presenting challenges for current church leaders.

During his term as pope, Benedict's efforts to rid the Church of what he called "filth" went further than those of John Paul II, but he was reluctant to hold bishops responsible for moving abusive priests from one posting to another, angering survivors and defenders.

Benoît himself was swept up in scandal after the publication of a report in January 2022 which had been commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church in Munich to investigate the archdiocese's handling of sexual abuse from 1945 to 2019.

The report claimed that Benedict XVI mishandled four cases decades earlier involving sexual violence. minors while he was archbishop in Germany. She also accused him of having misled the investigators in his written responses.

Two weeks after the publication of the report, Benoît admitted that "abuse and mistakes" had been made. He asked for forgiveness but denied wrongdoing.

Survivors' and victims' groups have said they have mixed feelings about his legacy.

"Ratzinger was less communicative than Francis but he moved" in the right direction when it came to confronting the clerical abuse scandal, the first pope to actually do so, said Francesco Zanardi, the founder of Rete l'Abuso, the largest victims' group in Italy. That said, "the real challenge is changing the culture of each bishop, and that can be huge."

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a group advocacy and research group, said in a statement that Benedict would be remembered "primarily for his failure to accomplish what should have been his first job: to repair the incalculable harm caused to the hundreds of thousands of children sexually abused by Catholic priests". ”

When he resigned, Benedict XVI “left hundreds of guilty bishops in power and a culture of secrecy intact,” she said.

"Instead of cures, he gave us words," said Ms. Barrett Doyle. "His failure to enact real change in the way the church deals with sexually abusive priests will be his important and shameful legacy." SNAP, also gave his assessment of Benedict's handling of clerical abuse.

"In our view, the death of Pope Benedict reminds us that, just as John Paul II, Benedict was more concerned with deteriorating church image and financial flow to the hierarchy than understanding the concept of genuine apologies followed by real reparations for victims of abuse,” said SNAP in a statement Saturday.