Pope’s brother: I slapped pupils in the face

The Pope’s brother, pictured below, admitted to repeatedly slapping boys across the face, but stopped doing so in 1980, after Germany banned corporal punishment. Why of course, because until the law was passed, he was not aware that it was degrading and abusive to strike young boys across the face!

In far greater numbers than people are willing to acknowledge, these are the kind of men who become priests.  Think about that the next time you enroll your kids in a Catholic School or send them off to summer camp with the church group. TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

By MELISSA EDDY and ALESSANDRA RIZZO Melissa Eddy And Alessandra Rizzo

BERLIN – The pope’s brother says in a newspaper interview that he slapped pupils across the face after he took over a renowned German boys’ choir in the 1960s. He also says he was aware of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school linked to the choir, but did nothing about it.

In an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse published Tuesday, he said “repeatedly administered a slap in the face” to pupils at the Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir. He says it was common then and he stopped after Germany banned corporal punishment in 1980.

Ratzinger said he knew of allegations of physical abuse at another school but did “not have the feeling that I should do something about it.”

Ratzinger insists he knows nothing of sexual abuse allegations at the Domspatzen.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Sexual abuse scandals in Germany, the pope’s homeland, and other countries are cause for anguish but the Roman Catholic Church’s response has been prompt and transparent, the Vatican said Tuesday.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said any abuse in the church is “especially deplorable” given its educational and moral responsibilities. But he added the problem of child abuse is wider than cases that have surfaced within the church and that focusing on the church alone would not truly depict the problem.

Scandals over sexual abuse by Catholic clergy of minors and cover-ups by church hierarchy have exploded in recent months in countries including Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands. The U.S. church is still dealing with the financial and emotional fallout from years of scandals.

The German abuse allegations are particularly sensitive because Germany is the homeland of Pope Benedict XVI and because the scandals involve a prestigious choir that was led by the pope’s brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, from 1964 till 1994.

Ratzinger has repeatedly said the sexual abuse allegations date from before his tenure as choir director. Asked in an interview Tuesday whether he knew of the allegations when he took over as head of the choir in 1964, Ratzinger insisted he was not aware of the problem.

“These things were never discussed,” Ratzinger told Tuesday’s Passauer Neue Presse German daily. “The problem of sexual abuse that has now come to light was never spoken of.”

Amid reports of beatings at primary schools that are considered “feeder schools” for the choir, Ratzinger said boys had complained to him but he had no idea how serious the allegations were.

“I ask the victims for pardon,” he told the paper.

The Vatican statement did not cite the choir, but did mention alleged abuses in Germany, Austria, Ireland and the Netherlands.

Lombardi defended the main ecclesiastical institutions involved, saying they have taken up the matters “promptly and decisively.”

“They have shown a desire for transparency, in a way they have accelerated bringing the problem to light by inviting the victims to speak up even when the cases dated to a while back,” Lombardi told Vatican Radio.

He said the cases are pushing the church toward dealing with the problem.

“While we can’t deny the gravity of the anguish the church is going through, we cannot give up doing everything possible so that in the end positive results can also be achieved,” Lombardi said, citing as goals better children protection and the church’s own “purification.”

In Austria, the head of a Benedictine monastery in Salzburg admitted Tuesday to sexually abusing a child decades ago and offered to resign. Arch-abbot Bruno Becker said he abused a 12-year-old boy more than 40 years ago, when he had not been ordained, the Austria Press agency reported. He said he informed church authorities last year after his victim contacted him, and apologized to him. Church authorities accepted the 64-year-old’s resignation immediately.

In the Netherlands, Rotterdam Bishop Ad van Luyn has apologized to Dutch victims and called for an independent investigation into the sexual abuse of children by priests after 200 alleged victims contacted help services last week.

More than 170 students have claimed they were sexually abused at several Catholic high schools across Germany. Last week, the Regensburg Diocese said a former singer of the church choir — the one lead by the pope’s brother — had come forward with allegations of sexual abuse in the early 1960s.

There have also been reports of severe beatings by administrators at two primary feeder schools for the choir, one in Etterzhausen and one in Peilenhofen. One director, identified as Johann M., who headed the Etterzhausen school from 1953-1992, has been cited in several allegations as being particularly abusive.

Ratzinger said boys would open up to him about being mistreated in Etterzhausen.

“But I did not have the feeling that I should do something about it. Had I known with what exaggerated fierceness he was acting, I would have said something,” he was quoted as saying by the German paper.

“Of course, today one condemns such actions,” Ratzinger said. “I do as well. At the same time, I ask the victims for pardon.”

Abuse cases have also surfaced recently in at least one non-church school in Germany.

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Associated Press Writer Melissa Eddy in Berlin contributed to this report.

About The Great One

Am interested in science and philosophy as well as sports; cycling and tennis. Enjoy reading, writing, playing chess, collecting Spyderco knives and fountain pens.
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