"
Consider the good of the Universal Church," Ratzinger wrote in a 1985 letter to Oakland Bishop John Cummins. "It is necessary for this Congregation to submit incidents of this sort to very careful consideration, which necessitates a longer period of time."
Two more years would pass before the Vatican acted on the Rev. Stephen Kiesle's request to leave.
A copy of the letter, typewritten in Latin and signed by Ratzinger, was obtained by The Associated Press. It constitutes the strongest challenge yet to the Vatican's insistence that Benedict played no role in blocking the removal of pedophile priests during his years as head of the Catholic Church's doctrinal watchdog office.
The letter is part of years of correspondence beginning in 1981 between the diocese of Oakland and the Vatican about Kiesle, who pleaded no contest to misdemeanors involving child molestation in 1978.
The Vatican confirmed Friday that the letter had Ratzinger's signature and said it was a typical form letter used in laicization cases. Attorney Jeffrey Lena said the matter proceeded "expeditiously, not by modern standards, but by those standards at the time," and that the bishop was to guard against further abuse.
Another spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said the letter showed no attempt at a cover-up. "The then-Cardinal Ratzinger didn't cover up the case, but as the letter clearly shows, made clear the need to study the case with more attention, taking into account the good of all involved."
The diocese recommended removing Kiesle (KEEZ'-lee) from the priesthood in 1981, the year Ratzinger was appointed to head the Vatican office that shared responsibility for disciplining abusive priests.
The case then languished for four years at the Vatican before Ratzinger finally wrote to the Oakland bishop. It was two more years before Kiesle was removed; during that time he continued to do volunteer work with children through the church.
In the November 1985 letter, Ratzinger says the arguments for removing Kiesle were of "grave significance" but added that such actions required very careful review and more time. He also urged the bishop to provide Kiesle with "as much paternal care as possible" while awaiting the decision, according to a translation for AP by Professor Thomas Habinek, chairman of the University of Southern California Classics Department.
Lena, the Vatican attorney, said "paternal care" was a way of telling the bishop he was responsible for keeping Kiesle out of trouble. Lena said Kiesle was not accused of any child abuse in the 5 1/2 years it took for the Vatican to act on the laicization.
The future pope also noted that any decision to defrock Kiesle must take into account the "good of the universal church" and the "detriment that granting the dispensation can provoke within the community of Christ's faithful, particularly considering the young age." Kiesle was 38 at the time.
Kiesle had been sentenced in 1978 to three years' probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of lewd conduct for tying up and molesting two young boys in a San Francisco Bay area church rectory.
Cummins, the bishop, told the Vatican that the priest took a leave of absence and met with a therapist and his probation officer during the three years. It's not clear from the file where Kiesle lived during those years, but Cummins mentions temporary assignments in neighboring dioceses that never worked out.
As his probation ended in 1981, Kiesle asked to leave the priesthood and the diocese submitted papers to Rome to defrock him.
In his earliest letter to Ratzinger, Cummins warned that returning Kiesle to ministry would cause more of a scandal than stripping him of his priestly powers.
"It is my conviction that there would be no scandal if this petition were granted and that as a matter of fact, given the nature of the case, there might be greater scandal to the community if Father Kiesle were allowed to return to the active ministry," Cummins wrote in 1982.
While papers obtained by the AP include only one letter with Ratzinger's
signature, correspondence and internal memos from the diocese refer to a
letter dated Nov. 17, 1981, from the then-cardinal to the bishop. Ratzinger
was appointed to head the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith a week later.
California church officials wrote to Ratzinger at least three times to
check on the status of Kiesle's case and Cummins discussed the case with
officials during a Vatican visit, according to correspondence. At one point,
a Vatican official wrote to say the file may have been lost and suggested
resubmitting materials.
Diocese officials considered writing Ratzinger again after they received
his 1985 response to impress upon him that leaving Kiesle in the ministry
would harm the church, Rev. George Mockel wrote in a memo to the Oakland
bishop.
"My own reading of this letter is that basically they are going to sit on
it until Steve gets quite a bit older," the memo said. "Despite his young
age, the particular and unique circumstances of this case would seem to make
it a greater scandal if he were not laicized."
As Kiesle's fate was being weighed in Rome, the priest returned to
suburban Pinole to volunteer as a youth minister at St. Joseph Church, where
he had been associate pastor from 1972-75.
Kiesle was ultimately laicized on Feb. 13, 1987, though the documents do
not indicate how or why. They also don't say what role - if any - Ratzinger
had in the decision.
Kiesle continued to volunteer with children, according to Maurine Behrend,
who worked in the Oakland diocese's youth ministry office in the 1980s.
After learning of his history, Behrend complained to church officials. When
nothing was done she wrote a letter, which she showed to the AP.
"Obviously nothing has been done after EIGHT months of repeated
notifications," she wrote. "How are we supposed to have confidence in the
system when nothing is done? A simple phone call to the pastor from the
bishop is all it would take."
She eventually confronted Cummins at a confirmation and Kiesle was gone a
short time later, Behrend said.
Kiesle, who married after leaving the priesthood, was arrested and
charged in 2002 with 13 counts of child molestation from the 1970s. All but
two were thrown out after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as
unconstitutional a California law extending the statute of limitations.
He pleaded no contest in 2004 to a felony for molesting a young girl in
his Truckee home in 1995 and was sentenced to six years in state prison.
Kiesle, now 63 and a registered sex offender, lives in a Walnut Creek
gated community, according to his address listed on the Megan's Law sex
registry. An AP reporter was turned away when attempting to reach him for
comment.
William Gagen, an attorney who represented Kiesle in 2002, did not return
a call for comment.
More than a half-dozen victims reached a settlement in 2005 with the
Oakland diocese alleging Kiesle had molested them as young children.
