Vatican City.- Legal actions against the late emeritus pope Benedict XVI for allegedly covering up sexual abuse while he served as archbishop of Munich and Freising (Germany) between 1977 and 1982 will not stop despite his death.
As detailed to ANSA by the spokesman for the court of Traunstein, in Bavaria, Andrea Titz, the process will continue against any heir that the pontiff may have, something that “has not yet been established.”
“Although the death of a party basically results in an interruption” of the process, “in the present case, however, this does not apply because the deceased was represented by a legal representative,” Titz explained. For this case, Benedict XVI had hired a team of lawyers to defend him, who could request the suspension of the trial until the question of the heirs is clarified.
Regarding the origin of the process, Titz explained that a man who claimed to be the victim of a proven pedophile priest mentioned Benedict XVI in court under his secular name, Joseph Ratzinger.
The purpose of the trial is to determine if the person who would later become pope was guilty of covering up the sexual abuse, since the abusive priest was transferred to his diocese to undergo therapy. Also listed are the convicted priest, the archdiocese and Ratzinger’s successor as Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Friedrich Wetter.
Benedict XVI passed away on Saturday, December 31 at the age of 95. From Monday, January 2, long queues formed to enter the Basilica of San Pedro to say goodbye to him. Thursday, January 5, will be his funeral and his remains will be buried in a crypt under the chancel, as had been his will. It is the original resting place of his predecessor, John Paul II, whose remains were moved to the top of the cathedral after he was beatified by Benedict XVI in 2011.
