For more than 70 years as a priest, Joseph Ratzinger set for himself the mission of seeking and proclaiming the truth; he chose “cooperators of the truth” as his episcopal motto. He did just that in his response to the Munich inquiry in sexual abuse, defending the facts of the matter against prevailing opinion, and elevating the entire matter by placing it in the liturgical context of sin, contrition, judgment and salvation.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI contested the report of the German law firm that conducted the inquiry, with his legal team arguing that the facts did not support the findings. They argued that the inquiry itself acknowledged a “lack of evidence,” and thus put forward their own judgment of what was “most likely.” Their opinion, absent a defense and untested in any court, does not establish the truth.

Veteran Vatican observer John Allen noted that Benedict did not follow the public-relations “playbook,” in which bishops do not contest the findings of such inquiries, even when some of their claims are obviously false or exaggerated, as was the case in Pennsylvania in 2018 and France in 2021.

Joseph Ratzinger never followed the playbook when it came to public relations. While almost all bishops in the world waited until after media scandals to act against sexual abuse, it was Cardinal Ratzinger who led the key Vatican reforms that were put in place the year before the Boston scandals hit.

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