Pope Benedict 'complicit in child sex abuse scandals', say victims' groups

Pope Benedict XVI 'knew more about clergy sex crimes than anyone else in church yet did little to protect children', say critics


Ian Traynor in Brussels, Karen McVeigh in New York and Henry McDonald in Dublin
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 February 2013 15.04 EST

Children play in St Peters' Square at the Vatican. Benedict, then Cardinal Ratzinger, was in charge of investigating sex abuse scandals but critics say he covered up paedophilia. Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/ AP

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Victims of the epidemic of sex- and child-abuse scandals that erupted under Benedict's papacy reacted bitterly to his resignation, either charging the outgoing pontiff with being directly complicit in a criminal conspiracy to cover up the thousands of paedophilia cases that have come to light over the past three years, or with failing to stand up to reactionary elements in the church resolved to keep the scandals under wraps.

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