18 March 2021
Deutsche Welle reports:
A German law firm published an independent report Thursday following accusations of efforts to cover up sexual violence in Germany’s most powerful Roman Catholic diocese.
The long-awaited report, commissioned by the diocese of Cologne, was presented by Björn Gercke, an attorney from a Munich law firm that conducted the investigation. He spoke of having examined “poisonous files” in reference to documents detailing evidence of abuse committed by priests and attempted cover-ups of those crimes.
…
The report identified around 243 abusers of minors – priests or lay people working for the church – and at least 386 victims between 1946 and 2018, not all of them falling under the jurisdiction of the Cologne diocese. The victims in some 55% of cases were children under the age of 14 and around half of the cases dealt with sexual violence, the rest with verbal or other physical abuse.
Almost two-thirds of abuses were carried out by members of the clergy, the rest by laypeople. The report also indicated a clear rise in reported abuse between 2004 and 2018.
RT reports:
Cardinal Rainer Woelki said the incidents reported “affect” him “deeply,” and added, “Clergymen are guilty of inflicting violence on people entrusted to them, and in many cases without being punished for it.”
He said that it was “even worse” that many of “those affected by this violence” had struggled to be “taken seriously and protected,” before calling the initial handling of allegations a “cover-up.”
The first results and official “consequences of the report” will be formally presented on March 23rd.
Back in February, German nuns belonging apparently to the same Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne were accused of having “rented” orphan boys to businessmen and clergymen in the ’60s and ’70s for “gang bangs and orgies”, according to a report seen by media that was withheld from the public.
The bishop of Germany's largest Catholic diocese has commissioned the long-awaited independent report into decades of abuse by clergy.
The report names over 200 abusers and over 300 victims.https://t.co/U2jMjnisTj
— DW News (@dwnews) March 18, 2021
Explosive German child abuse investigation reveals 200+ perpetrators, 300+ victims in Catholic Diocese of Cologne — RT World News https://t.co/URq30UqKdT
— Church and State (@ChurchAndStateN) March 18, 2021
A study commissioned by the Catholic Church uncovered hundreds of cases of sexual violence allegedly committed by clergy in Germany's top diocese.
Hundreds of clerical abuse cases in German diocese https://t.co/RkOrH770F0 via @rte
— Church and State (@ChurchAndStateN) March 18, 2021
Cologne diocese abuse cover-up report clears archbishop, names others https://t.co/pRLXZ4hohr pic.twitter.com/3bLOh6H4ob
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 18, 2021
Report details widespread sexual abuse by German priests | DW English
Abuse in the Catholic Church | DW Documentary
Media Leak Highlights Extensive Catholic Church Sex Abuse in Germany
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