As his funeral approaches Thursday, former Pope Benedict is being remembered in starkly different ways in Milwaukee.
Local Catholic Archbishop Jerome Listecki, appointed by Benedict, said in a written statement that he met the Pope several times either as pontiff or when Benedict was known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Listecki says he always found "Pope Benedict to be quite gracious and humble, despite being the pontiff and the greatest theologian of the century."
Some of the people abused as kids by Catholic clergy have a far different view. Among them is Peter Isely, a co-founder of the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests and the Wisconsin anti-abuse group Nate's Mission.
Isely says one of Ratzinger's biggest mistakes was while heading a Vatican office about 25 years ago, Ratzinger refused to de-frock Father Lawrence Murphy who had abused deaf children and others during decades in Wisconsin.
"That's the Benedict we know, and it's not just the Murphy case," Isely tells WUWM.
In the Murphy case, as reported at the time by the Associated Press, Ratzinger's deputy at the Vatican ruled that the alleged molestation had occurred too long prior and that Murphy—then ailing and elderly—should instead repent and be restricted from celebrating Mass outside of his diocese.
Isely also points to other actions by Pope Benedict, including being the leader of the Catholic church as the Milwaukee Archdiocese, after filing for bankruptcy protection, took more than four years to reach a settlement with a few hundred local clergy abuse victims. Even then, Isely says, Milwaukee victims got relatively little money compared to some victims elsewhere.
"Comparable settlements were about $300,000 a victim for being raped and sexually assaulted and having their life ruined. In Milwaukee, I'm talking like $2,000 to $20,000," Isely says.
Isely says the Vatican under Pope Benedict also approved a Milwaukee Archdiocese plan to move more than $50 million into a cemetery trust fund and away from potentially being used for victim settlements. The church said the money was needed to handle burials and maintain local Catholic cemeteries.
A report issued last year also contends Ratzinger mishandled cases of clergy abuse in his native Germany. Ratzinger denied any wrongdoing.
Isely says in addition to presiding over Pope Benedict's funeral this week, Pope Francis should make zero tolerance for clergy sex abuse a universal church law, open the Vatican's clergy abuse archives and order his bishops to cooperate fully with all governmental investigations of clergy sex abuse.
Isely says "Pope Francis should not spend Thursday endorsing Pope Benedict's failures."
The Associated Press reports tens of thousands of people have viewed Benedict's body lying in state at the Vatican.
