Breaking a taboo

adminonNovember 25, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

A memorial hall for "comfort women" in South Korea © YNA

South Korea urges official apology from Japan to World War II forced prostitutes. Human rights activists also call for a reappraisal on today's first official day of remembrance for "comfort women".

South Korea has called for an official apology from Japan to Korean forced prostitutes of World War II. The aim is to "restore the dignity and honor of the victims," South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on the first official commemoration of the "comfort women" this Tuesday, according to media reports. He hopes that this ie will not lead to a diplomatic conflict between Japan and South Korea.

Human rights activists also demand apology from Japan. The "dark past" is denied and not dealt with, criticizes the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). It is time to act, because "the aged survivors of these crimes against humanity have only a few years to live", says STP director Ulrich Delius.

It is estimated that around 200.000 affected

"Comfort women" is the euphemistic term for victims of forced prostitution by the Japanese military in East Asia. According to estimates around 200.000 girls and women had to make themselves available for Japanese soldiers in Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines, East Timor and the Dutch Indies between 1937 and 1945, according to the STP.

Japan has denied for decades that the women were forced to perform sexual services for the soldiers and rejects any kind of official apology or compensation payments. In the future, South Korea wants to celebrate every year on 14. August commemorate the fate of the "comfort women". The 14. August 1945 was the last day of the Japanese occupation of South Korea, which ended on 15. August officially ended. Korea was a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945.

Bishop Georg Batzing © Andreas Arnold

The election of Limburg Bishop Georg Batzing as president of the German Bishops' Conference has triggered numerous positive reactions. Congratulations came from politics, dioceses and the Protestant Church, among others.

The president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Thomas Sternberg, said in Bonn that he had come to know Batzing as a clever and thoughtful partner. In the diocese of Limburg, which has been marked by serious upheavals, he has achieved a high reputation in a short time.

"Your election is also an encouraging sign for us that the very overwhelming majority of bishops is willing to continue the synodal path consistently and successfully to regain lost trust," Sternberg said in a congratulatory letter.

"A clever clergyman, turned toward the people"

Congratulations also came from politics. This is how German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier congratulated Bishop Georg Batzing on his election to head the German Bishops' Conference. "With your election to this important position, after holding important offices in the field of interreligious dialogue and the universal church, you are now taking on a central task and great responsibility at the head of the Catholic Church in Germany," the head of state wrote. "They create important links between church, state and society."

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has praised the new chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Batzing, for his "openness and willingness to talk". Both will certainly also "render him valuable services" in his new office and support him "in fulfilling the coming tasks with foresight and in continuing the reform process within the Catholic Church," Merkel wrote on Wednesday. The confidence expressed by the election testifies to "high recognition and esteem". She wished him "a happy hand and God's blessing" and looked forward to the dialogue.

CDU chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer wished Batzing "much strength and God's blessing" on Twitter. "Great tasks lie ahead of you. We are looking forward to a good cooperation," said Kramp-Karrenbauer. Hermann Grohe (CDU), the Union's church commissioner, said that strong churches are important for society. Therefore, he wished Batzing God's blessing for the new task.

The chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament and the SPD in Hesse, Nancy Faeser, said that in Batzing the bishops had elected a "modern, open-minded man" as their chairman.

Bishop Batzing is "a clever clergyman who is turned toward people" and who has already had a positive influence on the Catholic Church of the present day. Faeser said that she was sure that the new chairman "will steer his church with care, but also with great courage, through the reform discussion that began with the Synodal Way.".

"Always remained modest as a person"

Munster's Bishop Felix Genn was "very satisfied" with Batzing's election. Georg Batzing, he said, is someone who can integrate, inspire and moderate. "These skills are particularly in demand at the moment, for example with regard to the Synodal Way, but also if we as a church want to present a more credible image again," Genn emphasized. Batzing brings a well-founded theological expertise and has always remained modest as a person.

"I wish him that he will keep his inner calm in the face of all the challenges that the Catholic Church in our country is currently facing and that he will also not let himself be driven by the many expectations that are now being placed on him," Genn wrote in a statement.

"God's blessing and a happy hand"

Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki wished Batzing "God's blessing and a happy hand" on Twitter. Ruhr Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck shared congratulations from his Essen diocese on Facebook.

Hildesheim Bishop Heiner Wilmer wished Batzing "much skill and foresight in dealing with challenges such as the Synodal Way, which our German Catholic Church has to face now and in the future". Serving at the helm of the bishops' conference entails giving the Catholic Church in Germany a voice and a face and representing it powerfully, Wilmer said.

"Discussion at eye level"

The Catholic Women's Association of Germany also welcomed the election of Batzing. "He is regarded as a modest reformer who, by his own admission, is not fond of 'detached church talk,'" explained federal chairwoman Mechthild Heil. "For him, the women's ie is 'elementary for the future of the Church,' so we are pleased to have an advocate for our concerns in him and to be able to continue the discussion on an equal footing."

Ecumenical impulses

The Protestant Church hopes for ecumenical impulses from Batzing. Bedford-Strohm said on Tuesday in Hanover that he had experienced the Limburg bishop "as an ecumenically highly open-minded and humanly very pleasant" interlocutor. "This makes me look forward with great confidence to future ecumenical cooperation," the council president said.

Bedford-Strohm stressed that he was looking forward with particular joy to the "Ecumenical Year 2021". He hoped for new impulses for the ecumenical path of the churches in Germany from the Ecumenical Kirchentag in Frankfurt and impulses for worldwide ecumenism from the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Karlsruhe. As bishop of Limburg, Batzing is one of the hosts of the Ecumenical Church Congress, which is scheduled to take place in May 2021.

"Clear, strong voice of orientation"

Bedford-Strohm thanked the previous conference chairman, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, for "all the trusting cooperation and friendly solidarity to date, which has found expression not least in the shaping of the Reformation anniversary in 2017 as a joint celebration of Christ".

In particular, the ecumenical service "Healing of Memories" in Hildesheim in 2017 and the orientation guide ied by the bishops' conference in 2018 on the question of marriages uniting denominations and joint participation in the Eucharist were milestones in Marx's term of office, said the council president. The cardinal had given Catholics in Germany a clear voice, strong in orientation and audible everywhere. Especially in difficult times this has proven to be beneficial.

"Credible representative and communicator."

The President of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, Manfred Rekowski, also congratulated Batzing. "In your time in Trier and as bishop of Limburg, the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland has come to appreciate you as an open, cordial interlocutor," reads a letter Rekowski sent to Batzing on Tuesday. The Catholic Church in Germany has found a "credible representative and communicator in the former vicar general of Trier".

"'Lead together'. The motto of your episcopal ministry is both an encouragement and a mission for you," Rekowski emphasized. "We look forward to good, ecumenical contact in your new position as well."The Limburg diocese shares church areas with the Rhenish Church in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. "More than ever, in view of people's concerns and the brokenness in our society, we must bear witness together to the Gospel in word and day," the Rhenish president explained.

Congratulations from the Central Council of Jews

The president of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, wished Batzing "mazel and broche – happiness and blessing!". Relations between Jews and Catholics in Germany stand on a firm foundation, he explained. The Orthodox Rabbinical Conference also emphasized that the good and trusting cooperation of recent years should be continued.

ACK chairman praises Batzing's ecumenical commitment

The Association of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK) also congratulated the new president of the German Catholic Bishops' Conference, Bishop Georg Batzing, on his election. "With Bishop Batzing, the German bishops have a chairman who cares deeply about ecumenism," said ACK chairman Archpriest Radu Constantin Miron in Frankfurt on Wednesday.

As a deputy ACK board member, Bishop Batzing is closely connected to ecumenism in Germany. In addition, as chairman of the Ecumenical Working Group of Protestant and Catholic theologians, Batzing knows the scientific state of ecumenism better than anyone else – "with all its opportunities, but also challenges," said Miron.

At the same time, Miron thanked Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the previous chairman of the Bishops' Conference. He said the latter's advocacy for ecumenism in Germany, especially in view of the 2017 Reformation commemoration, has been of great importance to ecumenism. With his "hands-on and at the same time open-hearted manner," Marx had given important impulses to ecumenism in Germany.

Founded in 1948, the ACK currently has 17 churches and communities as members, 8 others have guest status and 5 have observer status. According to its own information, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft represents about 50 million Christians in Germany. The ACK office – the "Ecumenical Central Office" – is based in Frankfurt am Main.

Hope for teamwork and dialogue

The initiative "We are Church" hopes for teamwork and dialogue from Batzing. In view of a decades-long reform backlog, the loss of credibility due to the cover-up of sexualized violence and the persistently high number of people leaving the church, the entire bishops' conference must find a new cooperative and participatory self-image that also includes the Central Committee of German Catholics and the people of the church, the letter said.

Pope Francis meets regularly with abuse victims. It's important to hear what they feel, he said during a talk with religious. He again strongly condemned sexual abuse in the church.

Abuse victims went through a "very difficult process," saying they were deeply humiliated. "For the church, this is a great shame. This shows not only our fragility, but also, let's put it bluntly, our level of hypocrisy," said the Pope.

The meeting with confreres from the Jesuit order had taken place during his trip to Peru in January; excerpts of the private conversation were published in the Italian newspaper "Corriere della Sera" (Thursday). Francis again strongly condemned sexual abuse in the church. The reference to statistics, according to which the abuse rate in other areas, such as in the family or in sports, are far higher, does not diminish the guilt of the Church in any way: "It is terrible, even if it were only about one of our brothers."

Meets several times a month

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke confirmed Thursday that Pope Francis meets victims of sexual abuse "several times a month". He received both individuals and groups, listening to them and trying to help "heal the serious wounds". According to Burke, the meetings are always held in camera "out of respect for the victims and their suffering".

Priests are anointed by God to sanctify people, young and old, not to destroy them, Francis stressed. He called the abuse cases the "greatest devastation" and "cancers" of the Church, in the face of which one must be "profoundly ashamed".

Abuse cases were also a topic during the pope's trip to Chile and Peru in mid-January. There was criticism for Francis' statement that there was no "evidence" that Juan Barros, who he appointed bishop of Osorno in 2015, had covered up cases of sexual abuse.

Pope apologized for choice of words

A short time later, the pope apologized for his choice of words, which he said hurt victims of sexual abuse. Many victims could not provide evidence of what they had suffered, or were ashamed to disclose it. Instead of "evidence," it is more correct to speak of certain circumstantial evidence, Francis said.

Reports of a Chilean abuse victim's letter about the case, which the Vatican had ignored, caused a stir recently. The pope appointed special investigator Archbishop Charles Scicluna to look into the case in late January.

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