Now, in both of those cases (of abuse by priests, one in Wisconsin, one in Germany), what both the Vatican and local church officials have said is that the future Pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was not intimately aware of the details of the case. He was not involved in the nitty-gritty of decision making.
That may well be true. I’ve written two biographies of this man. I can tell you from my own experience that that this is a guy who lives the life of the mind. He’s not a micromanager and has always sort of tended to leave it to others to make the trains run on times.
So if you mean, do I accept the version of events that the future Pope didn’t know the details, I’m willing to accept that. However, I’m not sure that really solves the problem, because both of these cases ultimately did happen on his watch. The buck stopped at his desk, and so I think ultimately he has to take responsibility for them.
Read (or watch) it all.
The Charlie Rose Show on reports of abuse by Catholic priests with John Allen
Now, in both of those cases (of abuse by priests, one in Wisconsin, one in Germany), what both the Vatican and local church officials have said is that the future Pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was not intimately aware of the details of the case. He was not involved in the nitty-gritty of decision making.
That may well be true. I’ve written two biographies of this man. I can tell you from my own experience that that this is a guy who lives the life of the mind. He’s not a micromanager and has always sort of tended to leave it to others to make the trains run on times.
So if you mean, do I accept the version of events that the future Pope didn’t know the details, I’m willing to accept that. However, I’m not sure that really solves the problem, because both of these cases ultimately did happen on his watch. The buck stopped at his desk, and so I think ultimately he has to take responsibility for them.
Read (or watch) it all.