Catholic Bishops were warned in '97 not to report all child-abuse cases to police

via Associated Press

The letter undermines persistent Vatican claims, particularly when seeking to defend itself in U.S. lawsuits, that the church in Rome never instructed local bishops to withhold evidence or suspicion of crimes from police. It instead emphasizes the church's right to handle all child-abuse allegations, and determine punishments, in house rather than hand that power to civil authorities.
Signed by the late Archbishop Luciano Storero, Pope John Paul II's diplomat to Ireland, the letter instructs Irish bishops that their new policy of making the reporting of suspected crimes mandatory "gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and canonical nature."

Now this is interesting because Ratzinger was appointed Cardinal-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on 25 November 1981 . As such, he would have directed how the cases were to be handled. And as Prefect, he determined what fell under the purview of canon law. Therefore, he would have told the Ambassador what to write.