May 3rd, 2010
12:56 PM ET

Why did Pope hesitate to act on convicted molester?

Stephen Kiesle, a former priest and a convicted sex offender was accused of molesting children while studying to be a priest in the 1970s. He pleaded no contest to some of those charges, but also said he no longer wanted to be a priest. His bishop at the time agreed - Kiesle should not be associated with the Catholic Church.

But there was one man who disagreed - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger - then a top Vatican official and now Pope Benedict the XVI.

Why did he wait to act? CNN's Gary Tuchman took a closer look.



Read the AC360° blog post | For the full report watch AC360° tonight at 10 p.m. ET.

Filed under: Church Abuse • Vatican
soundoff (5 Responses)
  1. rivirivi

    The pope hesitated because his pedophile club deserved another member!

    May 3, 2010 at 4:20 pm | Report abuse |
  2. rick

    religion

    May 3, 2010 at 4:31 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Peter

    Was there a miscarriage of justice while the defrocking was delayed? No.

    Did the police know about his crimes? Yes

    Did he re-offend while waiting for the defrocking. No.

    Don't we have bigger fish to fry? Yes

    May 4, 2010 at 5:50 am | Report abuse |
  4. D Lambert

    Justice for the victims

    May 4, 2010 at 10:23 am | Report abuse |