Church inquiries into choir abuse

CATHOLIC authorities in Germany announced two major abuse investigations – one into the renowned choir once led by Pope Benedict XVI’s brother and another into what everyone, including the Pope, knew about the sexual and physical abuse of students.

The Roman Catholic diocese of Regensburg in southern Germany said it appointed an independent investigator to examine the allegations of physical and sexual abuse that have engulfed the prestigious Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir, which was led by the Rev Georg Ratzinger, the pope’s older brother, from 1964 until 1994. So far, the sexual abuse allegations predate Ratzinger’s term.

Diocese spokesman Jacob Schoetz said Nuremberg lawyer Andreas Scheulen was named to lead the inquiry and all charges will be investigated thoroughly.

“The independent lawyer will thoroughly go through all existing legal papers, all court decisions and any information available,” Schoetz said.

“We expect to publish first results within the next two weeks.”

In addition the German Bishop’s Conference said it would look into wider-ranging allegations across the country after more than 170 students at Catholic schools have said they were sexually or physically abused decades ago.

That investigation will also examine allegations of sexual abuse at the choir and look into what, if anything, Pope Benedict XVI himself knew in his previous position as the archbishop of Munich, prelate Karl Juesten said.

“We do not know if the pope knew about the abuse cases at the time,” Juesten said. “However, we assume that this is not the case.”

Munich Archbishop Reinhard Marx will be “certainly investigating these questions”, he said.

Juesten, the liaison between Roman Catholic bishops and the German government, also praised Ratzinger, the pope’s brother, for apologising to victims on Tuesday for doing nothing decades ago to stop the beating of students.

Ratzinger says students told him of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school in Germany decades ago and apologised for doing nothing about it.

Ratzinger had first said he was unaware of any abuse, and Juesten said that others should follow the 86-year-old Ratzinger’s lead in coming clean.

However, the pope’s brother has said he was unaware of allegations of sexual abuse at his own choir – incidents alleged to have occurred before Ratzinger led the choir.

The German abuse allegations are particularly sensitive because Germany is the pope’s homeland and the scandals involve the prestigious choir led by his brother for 30 years.