Legal action against late ex-pope
Benedict XVI for allegedly ignoring clerical sex abuse during
his time as archbishop of Munich between 1977 and 1982 is to
proceed against any heirs he may have, a German court told ANSA
Monday.
Asked whether the late former pontiff had heirs, a spokesman for
the court at Traunstein said "this is yet to be established".
The spokesman, Andrea Titz, said a man who said he was the
victim of a proven predator priest, Peter H., had cited Benedict
in a civil court under his birth name of Joseph Ratzinger.
The aim of the complaint is to establish whether the late pope,
who died on New Year's Eve aged 95, was guilty of covering up
abuse cases.
Benedict's papacy from 2005 until his sensational resignation on
February 11, 2013, was dogged by global Catholic sex abuse
scandals.
Accused of inaction, the late pontiff became the first pope to
meet victims.
He also took action against what he called the "filth" in the
Church, but courted controversy by blaming it on the sexual
revolution of the 1960s.
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