FILE PHOTO: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gestures at Munich Airport before his departure to Rome, June 22, 2020. Former Pope Benedict traveled to his native Germany last week to visit his ailing older brother. Sven Hoppe/Pool via REUTERS//File Photo
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Former Pope Benedict on Tuesday acknowledged that errors occurred in handling sexual abuse cases when he was Archbishop of Munich and asked for forgiveness, as his lawyers argued he was not directly to blame.
The Vatican issued a letter by Benedict and a three-page addendum following a report released last month on abuse in the archdiocese from 1945 to 2019 which included the alleged failure by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ex-pope-benedict-criticised-munich-church-abuse-report-2022-01-20 to take action in four cases when he was Munich archbishop between 1977 and 1982.
