Peter Hullermann born 5 October , in Gelsenkirchen [ 1 ] is a German Catholic priest who sexually abused countless boys in the s and s. His case has attracted particular interest because of the alleged involvement of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger , then serving as Archbishop of Munich and Freising.
In , at a camp retreat, he forced an year-old boy to perform oral sex on him. In response, the priest supervising Hullermann informed the church authorities in Essen that he had made "indecent advances" towards children in the parish. Hullermann admitted the accusations against him. The diocese of Essen explicitly informed its counterpart in Munich that Hullermann had sexually abused children. In a meeting chaired by Archbishop Ratzinger on January 15, , the archdiocese of Munich and Freising gave formal approval to the transfer and provided Hullermann accommodation in a parish house in Munich while undergoing therapy.
The psychiatrist treating Hullermann, Dr Werner Huth, set three conditions when he started treating Hullermann: the priest should not be allowed to work with children, he should give up alcohol because he allegedly committed the acts of abuse when he was drunk , and he must be supervised at all times by a mentor. The doctor said he made these requirements clear to church officials during a number of conversations, including an auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
On February 1, , soon after his therapy began, Hullermann was assigned to an unrestricted pastoral ministry at a Munich parish, including work with children. Gerhard Gruber [ de ] , who at the time served as the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Munich. In March , Gruber assumed full responsibility for the decision to readmit Hullermann to pastoral care work, emphasizing that he made this decision on his own, without consulting the cardinal, saying "The repeated employment of [Hullermann] in parish ministry was a grave mistake.
I take full responsibility for it. In April , German magazine Der Spiegel , citing a private letter written by Gruber to a circle of friends, reported that he had received numerous phone calls from the archdiocese "begging" him to take sole blame for the reassignment, and that he had been faxed a prepared statement to sign. A spokesman for the archdiocese called Der Spiegel' s report "completely made up", and added that Gruber had been assisted in formulating his statement, but had not been forced to sign anything.
