It comes after it was disclosed that the Pope, who was then Cardinal Ratzinger, resisted appeals to unfrock an American priest with a record of sexually molesting children. In a letter, written in 1985 and bearing his name, he said that any action against Fr Stephen Kiesle should 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 concerning the young age." Fr Kiesle was 38 at the time.