Benedict XVI implicated in cleric sex abuse scandal

So far people in the United States have heard only about the alleged male prostitution ring in the Vatican, but a second unrelated and much worse papal scandal has finally jumped the Atlantic. From The New York Times:

BERLIN — A widening child sexual abuse inquiry in Europe has landed at the doorstep of Pope Benedict XVI, as a senior church official acknowledged Friday that a German archdiocese made “serious mistakes” in handling an abuse case while the pope served as its archbishop.

The archdiocese said that a priest accused of molesting boys was given therapy in 1980 and later allowed to resume pastoral duties, before committing further abuses and being prosecuted. Pope Benedict, who at the time headed the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, approved the priest’s transfer for therapy. A subordinate took full responsibility for allowing the priest to later resume pastoral work, the archdiocese said in a statement.

If you really believe the archdiocese that Ratzinger was wholly ignorant of what was going on here, I have some property you might be interested in.

My suspicion is that the reason for these stories breaking out now has less to do with new scandalous behavior and more to do with the waning influence of the Catholic Church in Europe. Call me crazy, but I just don't think priests started molesting boys in the 1960's.