Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI will give evidence in court against a civil claim that he was negligent in his handling of a clerical abuse case in Germany.
Benedict, former Archbishop of Munich and Freising, is expected to submit a written testimony in defence of his treatment of Fr Peter Hullerman, a priest who continued to abuse boys after Church authorities received complaints about him.
Lawyers representing a man who says he was abused by the priest as a 12-year-old say the Archdiocese of Munich allowed Hullerman to transfer from a diocese in the north west of Germany even though it was alerted to allegations that he had sexually assaulted an 11-year-old boy there.
The transfer dates to the period when the future Pope Benedict was archbishop, according to The Times.
On his arrival in Munich, Hullerman went on to commit sexual offences against other boys.
The claims focus on a meeting of 1980 in which senior diocesan officials discussed the Hullerman case, including Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, who served in the archdiocese from 1977 to 1982.
Benedict, 95, failed to recollect the meeting during a recent inquiry into historical abuse in Germany but he admitted that he was present, explaining his omission as a “mistake” and an “oversight”.
Fr George Ganswein, his private secretary, said in January that the Pope Emeritus “would like to make it clear now that, contrary to what was stated at the hearing, he did attend the Ordinariate meeting on January 15, 1980”.
“Objectively correct, however, remains the statement, documented by the files, that in his meeting no decision was made about a pastoral assignment of the priest in question,” Fr Ganswein added.
“Rather, only the request to provide him with accommodation during his therapeutic treatment in Munich was granted.”
Andreas Schulz, the lawyer who filed the civil case on behalf of the claimant, said the Church must fully acknowledge all of its mistakes.
“If they don’t, the reputational damage will grow and the Catholic Church will hasten the erosion of faith,” he said.
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