Rome (dpa) – Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, a prominent member of the Catholic Church in Germany, has lent his support to the retired Pope Benedict XVI following an explosive report that accused him of misconduct relating to four cases of sexual abuse.
“You see, I have not read it, but it is clear to me that as Archbishop Ratzinger he did not knowingly do anything wrong,” Müller, the former bishop of Regensburg, said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
The allegations against Benedict relate to him time as archbishop of Munich and Freising between 197 and 1982, when he was known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
In Müller’s view, more is said about Ratzinger than about priests who have committed crimes.
Nonetheless, Müller said he was not surprised by this. “In Germany, and not only there, people are interested in harming Joseph Ratzinger,” he told the newspaper, insinuating that he is targeted for his orthodox position on Catholic doctrine.
Referring to criticism of how sexual abuse was dealt with in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising during Ratzinger’s time, Müller said it was obvious that if there were mistakes, Ratzinger knew nothing about it.
At that time, he says, there was not the awareness and protocols there are today. “Nobody knew what to do, how to react appropriately, in the Church and in civil society,” the founder of the Pope Benedict XVI Institute, established in 2008, said.
Be the first to comment on "German Cardinal Müller backs Pope Benedict after misconduct claims"