Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
has apologized to all victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
In a statement, he expressed "deep shame" and "sorrow for the misdemeanors and mistakes" that had happened during his tenure in the places concerned.
Benedict stressed that those who "want to overlook it or do not face it with the necessary decisiveness and responsibility" would be drawn into "this excessive guilt".
At the same time, the former archbishop of Munich and Freising rejected specific allegations from the recently published Munich abuse report.
Benedikt has published a so-called fact check about his lawyers.
According to a statement by his personal advisors published by the Vatican on Tuesday, a ordinariate meeting on a priest in 1980 was neither about his acts of abuse nor about his planned pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Munich.
“It was all about the accommodation of the young priest X., because he was supposed to undergo therapy in Munich.
This request was met.
The reason for the therapy was not named at the meeting.” The meeting did not decide that an “abuser would be used in pastoral care”.
Benedikt had initially stated that he had not been present at the said meeting, which later turned out to be wrong.
However, he "did not lie or deliberately make false statements," the statement said.
The reason for the false statement was a "transmission error" by employees who had previously viewed the files.