Cardinal Müller defends Pope Leo XIV against German bishop's criticism over abuse
Cardinal Gerhard Müller has published a lengthy article defending Pope Leo XIV's remarks on sexual abuse, after German Bishop Bätzing criticized the pope for declining to call abuse in the Church a systemic problem
German Cardinal Gerhard Müller has responded to German Bishop Bätzing's public criticism of Pope Leo XIV, made after the pope declined to describe sexual abuse in the Church as a "systemic" problem. In a lengthy article, Müller defended the position Leo XIV set out at a news conference aboard the papal plane in September, where the pope distanced himself from that view and said that "sexual abuse is, above all, a human problem."
That remark drew criticism from Bätzing, who faulted the pope for not acknowledging that the Catholic Church has a systemic problem with abuse. Müller answered those remarks in a long article defending the pope's words.
Müller backed the pope's view that sexual abuse is above all a human problem, and rejected Bätzing's reading of what the pope said at the in-flight news conference in September.
Based on reporting by José García for Iglesia Noticias. This article was translated and adapted from Spanish with the help of artificial intelligence.
