Pope Benedict XVI knew of abusive priests when he ran Munich archdiocese but looked away, investigators say

“During his time in office there were abuse cases happening,” Pusch said, referring to Benedict. “In those cases those priests continued their work without sanctions. The church did not do anything.

“He claims that he didn’t know about certain facts, although we believe that this is not so, according to what we know,” Pusch said.

Benedict, now 94, became the first Pope in centuries to resign when he stepped down in 2013. His tenure was overshadowed by a global sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, and the investigators’ findings — which now directly implicate him in a failure to prevent and punish abuse — threaten to wreck the reputation of the former pontiff.

Lawyer Ulrich Wastl presented a copy of the minutes of a meeting of Munich church leaders on January 15, 1980, when a decision was made to take on an abuser the report refers to as “Priest X.”

Wastl said he was “surprised” that Benedict denied he was at the meeting, despite the minutes showing that he was. “This is something that is written down,” said Wastl, later rejecting Benedict’s denial as “hardly credible.”

Wastl said Benedict had submitted a statement to the investigation, but gave it little credence, summarizing Benedict’s position as: “You have the proof that a certain document was submitted, but you don’t have the proof that I have read it.”