A report detailing historic child sex abuse within the Catholic Church was presented to the media on the second day of the Bishops’ Conference in Fulda on Tuesday.
The Catholic Church’s German Cardinal and Chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference Reinhard Marx and Professor Doctor Harald Dressing, who headed the study ‘Sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests, deaconry and male members of religious orders within the German Bishops’ Conference’, read a statement and answered questions.
Marx asked for forgiveness for “looking away for too long, trivialising, denying and turning a blind eye and ear to the victims”.
He stressed that sexual abuse is a crime and those guilty need to be punished. He also acknowledged that the Catholic Church did not follow guidelines introduced by the German Bishops’ Conference in 2002 and 2010.
Forensic psychiatry expert Professor Doctor Dressing warned that the risk of sexual abuse within the structure of the catholic church lingers on, and only definite actions could prevent similar events in the future. He identified problems, such as abuse of clerical powers, a difficult relation to sexuality and especially homosexuality, as well as the customs of celibacy and confessions.
The study shows that at least 1,670 priest sexually abused more than 3,677 minors in their care in the last 70 years.
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