The Associated Press reports that back in 1985 the future Pope Benedict XVI resisted pleas to defrock a former priest, now 63 and living in Rossmoor, who had a record of sexually molesting children.
According to a 1985 letter bearing his signature, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said the arguments for removing Stephen Kiesle, then 38, from the priesthood were of "grave significance." Ratzinger, who then headed the Vatican's office involved in disciplining abusive priests, told Oakland Bishop John Cummins that he should use "as much paternal care as possible" with regard to Kiesle, the AP says.
The future pope also said that any decision to defrock Kiesle (pictured here in 2002) must take into account "the good of the universal church."
"Paternal care" was apparently Ratzinger's way of telling Cummins to keep Kiesle out of trouble, AP says.
Ratzinger's letter went out eight years after Kiesle was sentenced in 1978 to three years' probation for pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of lewd conduct. Kiesle was convicted of ttying up and molesting two young boys in a San Francisco Bay Area church refrectory, the AP says. When this probation ended in 1981, Kiesle asked to leave the priesthood, and the diocese submittted papers to Rome to defrock him. That same year, the diocese recommended removing Kiesle from the priesthood.
Cummins himself asked the Vatican in a letter that Kiesle be defrocked, according to ABC7. In a letter, Cummins wrote: "It does seem clear now, with hindsight, that quite probably Father Kiesle should never have been ordained."
Cummins himself asked the Vatican in a letter that Kiesle be defrocked, according to ABC7. In a letter, Cummins wrote: "It does seem clear now, with hindsight, that quite probably Father Kiesle should never have been ordained."
Ratzinger was more concerned about protecting the church's reputation than protecting children, Irwin Zalkin, an attorney representing some of the victims, told the AP.
"Cardinal Ratzinger was more concerned about the avoidance of scandal than he was about protecting children," Zalkin said in a phone interview. "That was a central theme."
Kiesle ultimately left the priesthood in 1987--and records don't show if Ratzinger had any role in that decision, AP says. Five years later, in 2002, he was arrested and charged with 13 counts of child molestation in the 1970s. All but two of those charges were thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down a California law that extended the statute of limitations. Kiesle pleaded no contest in 2004 to a felony charge for molesting a young girl in Truckee in 1995 and was sentenced to six years in state prison.
Kiesle was a defendant in a lawsuit filed against the Oakland diocese. Eight of Kiesle's victims settled with the Oakland Dioceses in 2005. They were awarded between $1 million and $1.5 million each.
In the settlement, Kiesle "admitted molesting many children and bragged that he was the Pied Piper," Lewis VanBlois, an attorney for six Kiesle victims, told the AP. " When asked how many children he had molested over the years, [Kiesle] said 'tons.' " Eight of Kiesle's victims settled with the Oakland Dioceses in 2005. They were awarded between $1 million and $1.5 million each.
Cummins, now 82 and retired, suggested to reporters that back in 1985 Ratzinger might have been following the tone set by Pope John Paul II regarding sex abuse allegations. John Paul's practice at the time, according to Cummins, was to slow these cases down. "You just didn't walk out of the priesthood then," Cummins said.
The Vatican confirmed that Ratzinger signed the 1985 letter regarding Kiesle. Two Vatican representatives tried to downplay any suggestion that then-Cardinal Ratzinger tried to cover up the case.
One told the AP that the letter was a typical form letter asking that the diocese to proceed carefully and to guard against future abuse. Another representative said that Ratzinger was asking for more careful study take place.
