The outpouring of support and devotion to Pope Benedict XVI, Vicarius Christi of the Catholic Church (April 19 2005- 31 December 2022), has been massive. The Vatican has been surprised and overwhelmed by the large number of faithful coming to see the deceased pope.
Pope Benedict XVI was recently in the news. After the publication of a report that dealt with abuse in the archdiocese of Munich. It accused Benedict XVI of having failed to act on 4 cases of child abuse when he was Archbishop from 78 till 82. That was before Ratzinger was appointed prefect of the congregation of the doctrine of faith by Pope John Paul II after which he became increasingly conservative and eventually ended up getting the Pope to let the CDF crack down on abuse when local bishops were being too slow.[1] Progressive German bishops like Lehmann have actually lamented Benedict’s turn to the right under John Paul II.[2] The far left Cardinal Reinhard Marx is also confirmed by the report to have been guilty of complicity in abuse at least twice.[3]