Germany: Study uncovers widespread sexual abuse in Münster diocese

The scope of sexual abuse throughout the Catholic diocese of Münster is way wider than beforehand thought, a brand new examine revealed on Monday.

It’s the most recent in a string of experiences detailing failings throughout the Catholic Church in Germany to guard youngsters from sexual abuse by clergy.

What did the examine discover?

The two-year examine was carried out by researchers on the University of Münster, and was arrange on the initiative of the Münster diocese. It examined sexual abuse that happened in the diocese between 1945 and 2020.

Over that 75-year interval, they logged at the least 610 underage victims who suffered sexual abuse from clergy members.

Due to the excessive hurdles for reporting abuse and the stigma surrounding it, the precise variety of instances is probably going “considerably higher,” the examine discovered.

The majority of those that have been abused have been between the ages of 10 and 14.

The examine estimated there have been at the least 5,000 to six,000 victims in the Münster diocese alone.

“Around three-quarters of the victims were boys, and a quarter were girls,” in keeping with a college press launch.

“They often had close ties with the church — through being altar boys and girls or being in other groups — and the perpetrators exploited this quite unscrupulously.”

Who was accountable?

The examine mentioned church leaders engaged in a “cover-up” of abuse over the previous 75 years.

Some 196 clergy members in the Münster diocese have been concerned in the abuse since 1945.

The clergy included 183 clergymen, a everlasting deacon and 12 brothers in an order that was underneath the authority of the Münster bishop, the examine discovered.

According to researchers, “the majority of the clerics accused were merely relocated” and didn’t have their pastoral actions restricted.

The examine additional discovered there was a “massive failure of leadership” underneath the 4 bishops who led the Münster diocese from 1947 via 2008 — Michale Keller, Joseph Höffner, Heinrich Tenhumberg and Reinhard Lettman.

The examine additionally discovered that the present Bishop Felix Genn, who has been in workplace since 2008, was initially sluggish to behave towards perpetrators.

Germany’s Catholic Church reckons with abuse

The Münster abuse report is the most recent to convey to gentle particulars of a long time of sexual abuse and alleged cover-ups in German branches of the Catholic Church.

In January this 12 months, a report commissioned by the archdiocese in Munich mentioned a number of church officers poorly dealt with accusations of abuse.

Among these accused of understanding about abuse allegations however failing to take motion was retired Pope Benedict XVI. He served as archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982 as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The former pope denied accusations he was concerned in a cover-up.

A 2018 examine commissioned by the German Bishop’s Conference discovered that over 1,600 clergy members in Germany sexually abused over 3,600 minors between 1946 and 2014.

In current years, the Catholic Church has confronted rising stress and backlash over sexual abuse scandals.

rs/wd  (dpa, KNA, AP, AFP)

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