Thanks for these references, +. It does put a slightly different complexion on things.
An English translation of the Zeit Online report of 1 June 2023 reads :
Cousin of Benedict XVI apparently rejects inheritance
because of lawsuit
Not much is known about Benedict XVI's estate – only that a
civil lawsuit is part of it. According to a report, a cousin therefore does not
want to accept the inheritance.
According to media reports, a cousin of the late Pope
Benedict XVI will not accept the inheritance because of a claim for damages
against the former head of the church. This is reported by Correctiv and
Bayerischer Rundfunk, citing the cousin's daughter, who represents her mother
because of her advanced age.
According to the daughter, the former private secretary of
the late Pope, Georg Gänswein, had written to her mother in April and
introduced himself as Ratzinger's "executor". Gänswein had written in
the letter, which BR and Correctiv have obtained, that Ratzinger had "not
named a personal heir". Therefore, according to the "Vatican-Italian
succession regulation, the closest relatives" would come into question as
heirs.
The clergyman wrote to the cousin that she would co-inherit
the pending civil lawsuit against Ratzinger if she accepted the inheritance.
How high Ratzinger's inheritance is and how many heirs share it, Gänswein
reportedly did not write.
Lawsuit against four defendants
The background is a civil lawsuit by an abuse victim against
the alleged perpetrator and representatives of the Catholic Church. This
so-called declaratory action is directed against four defendants: the repeat
offender Priest H., the archdiocese and the former archbishops Cardinal
Friedrich Wetter and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
After the death of the Pope
Emeritus, however, the proceedings against him are suspended until it is clear
who will succeed him. The Traunstein Regional Court had postponed a first hearing
date in March because no heirs of Ratzinger had been identified by then.