Vatican notes "mere speculation" against Pope Benedict in New York Times

(March 27, 2010) Attempts by the New York Times to personally embroil Pope Benedict XVI in the child sex abuse scandals are "mere speculation," the Vatican spokesman said on Friday. In an article on Friday, New York Times took up a story reported earlier about a priest allowed to do pastoral work in the German Archdiocese of Munich even though he was receiving psychological treatment for a history of abuse. The archbishop at the time was Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Since the story of the priest has been reported, Archbishop Ratzinger's then vicar general, Monsignor Gerhard Gruber, has accepted full responsibility for the priest's assignment. Asked about the Times allegation, Fr. Lombardi referred to a statement from Munich Archdiocese released on Friday that said that the Times article contained no new information beyond that which the archdiocese has already communicated concerning the then archbishop's knowledge of the situation of Father Peter Hullermann, accused of abusing boys. Father Lombardi thus confirmed that the Munich Archdiocese rejects any version of events that attributes knowledge of the case to Archbishop Ratzinger, calling it "mere speculation."