• Says “I can only express to all the victims of sexual abuse my profound shame, my deep sorrow and my heartfelt request for forgiveness.”
• Benedict was accused in January of knowingly failing to cease 4 clergymen accused of kid intercourse abuse.
• The previous pope — whose start title is Joseph Ratzinger — was the archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982.

Ex-pope Benedict XVI requested for forgiveness Tuesday for clerical little one intercourse abuse dedicated on his watch, however aides rejected allegations of a cover-up whereas he was archbishop of Munich.

“I can only express to all the victims of sexual abuse my profound shame, my deep sorrow and my heartfelt request for forgiveness,” the 94-year-old stated in a letter launched in response to a German inquiry final month that examined his dealing with of paedophile clergymen within the Nineteen Eighties.

“I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church. All the greater is my pain for the abuses and the errors that occurred in those different places during the time of my mandate.”

The previous pontiff, who stepped down in 2013, was accused in January of knowingly failing to cease 4 clergymen accused of kid intercourse abuse within the Nineteen Eighties when he was archbishop of Munich.

Benedict, who’s in very frail well being, requested a crew of aides to assist him reply to the findings by regulation agency Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW), which had been commissioned by the archdiocese of Munich and Freising to look at abuse circumstances between 1945 and 2019.

The aides insisted in a press release printed by the Vatican alongside his letter Tuesday that “as an archbishop, Cardinal Ratzinger was not involved in any cover-up of acts of abuse”.

The previous pope — whose start title is Joseph Ratzinger — was the archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982.

In a single case, a now infamous paedophile priest named Peter Hullermann was transferred to Munich from Essen in western Germany the place he had been accused of abusing an 11-year-old boy.

Benedict’s crew has already admitted to unintentionally giving incorrect info to the report authors denying his attendance at a gathering about Hullermann in 1980.

However they denied any determination was taken at that assembly about reassigning the priest to pastoral duties, and on Tuesday stated the abuse was not mentioned.

“In none of the cases analysed by the expert report was Joseph Ratzinger aware of sexual abuse committed or suspicion of sexual abuse committed by priests. The expert report provides no evidence to the contrary,” the assertion stated.

Worry and trembling

In his letter, Benedict stated it had been “deeply hurtful” that the “oversight” over his attendance on the 1980 assembly “was used to cast doubt on my truthfulness, and even to label me a liar”.

Benedict, who lives in a former monastery throughout the Vatican partitions, stated he was “particularly grateful for the confidence, support and prayer that Pope Francis personally expressed to me”.

The Vatican moved final month to defend the previous pope, saying he had “fought” sexual abuse — although Pope Francis has publicly stayed silent.

Earlier than his election as pope, Benedict led the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation —  as soon as generally known as the Holy Workplace of the Inquisition — giving him final duty to research abuse circumstances.

Within the letter, dated February 6, he made a transparent reference to his failing well being, saying that “quite soon, I shall find myself before the final judge of my life”.

“As I look back on my long life, I can have a great reason for fear and trembling,” he stated however was nonetheless “of good cheer” as the tip nears.