Because of the cover-up of cases of abuse in the 1980s, em. Benedict XVI a civil lawsuit. Among other things, he is said to have done nothing to prevent the convicted pedophile priest H. from being used in Garching. Even after his death, the proceedings are not discontinued.
The lawsuit against Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. at the district court in Traunstein continues there even after his death - at least for the time being. "Although the death of a party basically results in an interruption in accordance with Section 239 of the Code of Civil Procedure," said court spokeswoman Andrea Titz. "In the present case, however, this does not apply because the deceased was represented by a legal representative."
Joseph Ratzinger, who died on New Year's Eve morning, had commissioned a large law firm to represent him in the proceedings. The legal representative could request an interruption of the proceedings until it has been clarified who the heirs of Ratzinger are, said Titz. "I can't say yet whether such an application will be made."
In the summer of last year, a man who said he was abused by the convicted repeat offender Priest H. in Garching an der Alz brought a civil action, a so-called declaratory action, at the Traunstein District Court. It is directed not only against Ratzinger, who was then archbishop of Munich and Freising when the abuser was transferred to his diocese - but also against the convicted man himself, the archdiocese and Ratzinger's successor in the office of archbishop, Cardinal Friedrich Wetter.
The pedophile priest H. was installed in Garching in the 1980s, although there had been allegations against him in the diocese of Essen - and although the district court in Ebersberg had convicted him of sexual abuse during his time as a clergyman in Grafing near Munich.
The aim of the lawsuit is, among other things, to determine whether diocese officials have covered up crimes and thus made further crimes possible. "The lawsuit will be continued with the heir or heirs of the deceased," said the plaintiff's lawyer, Andreas Schulz, of the German Press Agency.
The Garchinger Initiative Sauerteig, which supports the plaintiff, had feared at the weekend that Benedict's role could no longer be legally processed. "By clarifying his responsibility before a secular court, he could have taken an important step for the future of the Catholic Church," said the initiative. "The fact that Pope em. Benedict can no longer render this service to his church is probably part of the tragedy of his life."
