GERMANY
Daily Kos
By Walter Einenkel
Tuesday Jan 12, 2016
When Pope Benedict left the leadership position of the Catholic Church, after a rather short term, many speculated the Catholic Church realized that having a man who looks sort of scary—with a German accent, who may or may not have Nazi ties, and a lot of child sexual abuse skeletons in his closet, wasn’t the best idea. But maybe he was just a little too old for the torrid schedule of a Pope? Maybe it’s a family issue.
At least 231 children who sang in a boys’ choir led for 30 years by the brother of former Pope Benedict XVI were abused over a period of almost four decades, a lawyer investigating reports of wrongdoing said Friday.
The lawyer, Ulrich Weber, who was commissioned by the choir to look into accusations of beatings, torture or sexual abuse, said he thought that the actual abuse was even more widespread.
This breaks out to about a third of the children under Rev. Georg Ratzinger (Benedict’s brother).
Asked whether Benedict’s brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, who conducted the Regensburg choir from 1964 to 1994, had known of the abuse, Mr. Weber said, “After my research, I must assume so.”
Most of the abuses are alleged to have been perpetrated by Johann Meier, a director of a school connected with the choir between the years 1953 until 1992. Meier has since died.
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