When he was in charge of the office of church discipline, the future Pope Benedict XVI was slow to respond to a request to be defrocked by an East Bay priest who had pleaded no contest to lewd conduct charges.
In 1985, four years after the Vatican learned of Stephen Kiesle’s request to leave the priesthood, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote to Oakland Bishop John Cummins asking for more time to consider the matter.
Kiesle, who had served in several East Bay parishes, pleaded no contest in 1978 to lewd conduct for tying up and molesting two boys at Our Lady of the Rosary parish in Union City, where he was a teacher and priest.
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SF Chronicle–Future pope slow to act on defrocking priest
When he was in charge of the office of church discipline, the future Pope Benedict XVI was slow to respond to a request to be defrocked by an East Bay priest who had pleaded no contest to lewd conduct charges.
In 1985, four years after the Vatican learned of Stephen Kiesle’s request to leave the priesthood, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote to Oakland Bishop John Cummins asking for more time to consider the matter.
Kiesle, who had served in several East Bay parishes, pleaded no contest in 1978 to lewd conduct for tying up and molesting two boys at Our Lady of the Rosary parish in Union City, where he was a teacher and priest.
Read the whole article.