They said his response reflected the Catholic hierarchy's "permanent" refusal to accept responsibility for the rape and sodomy of children by priests.

Benedict's letter received a lukewarm reception from bishops in Germany, while victims' organisations expressed disappointment, anger and dismay.

Victims accused the former Cardinal Ratzinger of still not taking direct responsibility for abuses there.

Bishop of Essen, Franz-Josef Overbeck told the Catholic newspaper Neues Ruhrwort that he fears Benedict's statement won't help abuse victims work through what happened to them.

Overbeck said he notes with concern that "people affected by sexual violence have reacted with disappointment and in some cases also indignation to the former pope's comments on his time as archbishop of Munich and Freising".

A member of the victims' advisory board of the archdiocese, Richard Kick, said in a radio interview on Tuesday that those affected by sexual abuse were being fobbed off, while the Pope Emeritus was glorifying himself.

Kick said that Pope Benedict's statement had caused him "deep indignation and even more frustration". He pointed out that he had assumed no responsibility for cases in which serial abusers had been reinstated in pastoral care.

In his statement, Benedict asked forgiveness on Tuesday for any "grievous faults" in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases but denied any personal or specific wrongdoing. Yet the Pope's apology has disappointed and angered victims.

"I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church. All the greater is my pain for the abuses and the errors that occurred in those different places during the time of my mandate.

"Each individual case of sexual abuse is appalling and irreparable. The victims of sexual abuse have my deepest sympathy, and I feel great sorrow for each individual case".

His statement came after an independent report criticised his actions in four cases while he was archbishop of Munich, Germany.

The ‘Munich Report' faulted the handling of decades of abuse cases by a string of church officials, including Cardinal Ratzinger.

Benedict, 94, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, headed the archdiocese from 1977 to 1982.

The report faulted Benedict's handling of the cases and accused him of misconduct for failing to restrict the four priests' ministry even after they had been convicted criminally.

The Bishop of Limburg, the Most Revd Georg Bätzing, who chairs the German Catholic Bishops' Conference, tweeted: "Pope Emeritus Benedict had promised to speak out. Now he has kept his promise. I am grateful for that, and he deserves respect".

The present Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, also welcomed the letter.

But, he emphasised that he took the report very seriously, "which also deals with personal and institutional responsibility, especially with regard to the leadership level" and that he and the diocese would act on the recommendations, together with victim organisations.

Sources

• Church Times
• Religion News Service
• HuffPost

Msgr Peter Beer, who served from 2010-2020 as vicar general of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, said the horrific details that emerged from a recently published report on sex abuse in the archdiocese are "absolutely plausible".

"It objectively documents what everyone feared and what I myself experienced. Namely, that the Church cannot reappraise itself. That is my own bitter experience," the 56-year-old priest said in a Jan 27 interview published in the German weekly Die Zeit.

"That is why I gave up my job as vicar-general of Munich two years ago. The opposition I faced was too great even for a vicar general," he revealed.

The so-called Munich Report, published Jan 20, exonerated Beer and proved he was strictly against abuse, confirming that his efforts were met with "bitter opposition".

Beer said opposition came from those who felt superior to the rest of society. They were used to judging others without ever being judged themselves and were frightened that their life's work would be destroyed.

Beer served as vicar general under Cardinal Reinhard Marx during the first ten years of the Catholic sexual abuse tsunami that has swept through the German speaking world.

Asked if Cardinal Marx really wanted to clear up the way abuse had been handled in his archdiocese - especially as he chose not to be present at the presentation of the report, Beer paused for a long moment.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" he then replied.

The Munich Report also accused Benedict XVI of hushing up abuse, but the former pope contradicted the accusation. Beer was asked which version is correct.

"Only Benedict himself has the answer to that," he replied.

And although he faced fierce opposition from a number of senior clerics in Munich for speaking out, Beer does not consider himself a victim of the system.

"No! I am in no way a victim! On the contrary, I am responsible!" he replied.

But he said he now realises that it was naïve to think that the Church could clear up clerical sexual abuse all by itself.

He said the Munich Report, which proved that certain senior clerics had failed to protect the victims, "is unfortunately not only a glimpse into the past but also into the present".

Sources

La Croix International

Vatican Press

CBS News