Brisance in eichstatt

adminonNovember 19, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

The abuse trial against a student of religious education puts further prere on the Catholic University of Eichstatt-Ingolstadt (KU). A lecturer and the head of the Faculty of Religious Education are the main targets of criticism. Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke of Eichstatt spoke on Friday of an "outrageous incident" and a "massive violation" of the guidelines of the German Bishops' Conference.

The 30-year-old student had been sentenced a week ago by the Regional Court of Wurzburg to four years in prison for sexual abuse of an underage altar boy. The former sacristan from the district of Kitzingen had confessed to the acts between 2004 and 2005. His defense attorney has since announced an appeal, so the verdict is not yet legally binding.

KU spokesman Constantin Schulte Strathaus said on request, so long the student remains on leave of absence. Only then is de-registration possible. Against the lecturer further service-legal steps would be examined. This week, the woman had already been relieved of her duties as a practical supervisor for students of religious education and church education work.

The scientist had attended the court hearing. Among other things, a letter from her on university letterhead was read out. In it, it certified to the accused that he could count on continuing his studies in religious education even in the event of a conviction. She also held out the prospect of another internship for the student at a private school.

Without the knowledge of the university and the dean's office
Schulte Strathaus again emphasized that this had happened without the knowledge of the university and the dean's office. Rather, the dean had informed both the university management and the school department of the Eichstatt diocese in mid-December 2011 about the investigation against the student. This had taken place after the student had informed the dean about the investigations. In addition, according to its spokesman, the university is now examining admission requirements for students in general, as well as other preventive measures within the framework of the study programs.

Eichstatt diocese spokesman Martin Swientek said that since last December, it had been clear to his diocese that an assignment as a school intern or in youth work for the 30-year-old was out of the question. This had also been made clear to the university.

On Monday, Wurzburg's Vicar General Karl Hillenbrand had already sent a letter to University President Richard Schenk asking him to clarify the matter. The lecturer had "advocated for the perpetrator to an extent that lacked any reasonable balance of closeness and distance," he wrote. Their behavior was capable of "discrediting the efforts of the Catholic Church as a whole to consistently deal with the abuse ie".

Pope Francis celebrates synod closing Mass © Ettore Ferrari

Francis may want to publish his post-synodal letter on the Synod on the Family sooner than many had suspected. As early as March, Catholics are expected to hear the opinion of their pope, it is said.

"The ball is now in the Pope's court," was heard everywhere after the Synod on Marriage and the Family. Until the end, however, it was not at all one hundred percent certain whether Francis would also play the ball, that is, rework the final text of the bishops' assembly in the Vatican into a post-synodal letter of his own, as is customary after synods. This is now as good as official.

The pope will publish the so-called Exhortation in March, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, announced at a meeting in Albufeira, Portugal. Thus, after two family synods in the fall of 2014 and 2015, which were marked by sometimes heated controversies, the magisterial conclusion would soon follow.

Text was not expected until the summer

If he takes up the pen at all, Francis will certainly complete the text quickly, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin had already declared in October. A papal statement must come quickly, he says, or it will lose its power and impact. In fact, however, some observers had expected a publication in the summer at the earliest.

The fact that the letter could now appear after less than half a year is probably due, on the one hand, to the fact that Francis is an energetic worker who likes to get things done quickly. On the other hand, it shows once again that the pope wants to make a new ecclesiastical approach to marriage and family a milestone of his pontificate.

Concrete statements still unclear

It would also have been difficult to imagine that Francis, after the two marathon discussions he convened, would not have wanted to put his own stamp on the debate in the end. During the two- and three-week synods, he had only silently followed the deliberations – and received not only praise for it.

What statements the pope will formulate on controversial ies such as the church's treatment of remarried divorcees, homosexuals or unmarried couples will be among the most exciting questions asked by commentators and speculators in the coming weeks.

Half-hearted compromises or plenty of leeway for pope?

The final document of the 270 synodals, which Francis had explicitly requested be published in October, contains few concrete pastoral proposals and leaves much up in the air. Critics have already described it as a half-hearted compromise paper between progressive and conservative bishops.

Others, however, stressed that the synod has certainly opened doors and leaves the pope plenty of room to maneuver through them. A similar openness as some documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) contained – which leads to debates about the "spirit of the Council" until today.

"Seeing reality as it is"

In the end, the pope alone will decide to what extent paragraphs that did not receive the required two-thirds majority of participants at the time will nevertheless be included in his own text; this could possibly include, for example, an admission of guilt by the church toward homosexuals or divorced persons proposed by the German participants. Archbishop Paglia merely let it be known in Portugal that he expects a "hymn of love to the family" and the witness of a church.

In his closing address to the synodals at the time, Francis had also considered decentralized pastoral solutions to tricky ies. The synod, the pope continued, showed "that the true defenders of doctrine are not those who defend the letter, but the spirit; not the idea, but man; not formulas, but the gratuitous love of God and his forgiveness". The goal, they said, must be to see reality as it is – not as it should be – in a historic period of discouragement for families. How exactly he envisions this and what pastoral conclusions he has drawn from it, the Catholic world will possibly learn before Easter.

"The world needs to know what is happening". Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel was outraged. 20 years ago the world conference against sexual exploitation of children started. A milestone. But the situation has become even worse.

An outcry of indignation went through Europe: while delegates from 122 countries gathered in Stockholm at the end of August 1996 for the first World Conference against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, Belgian child molester Marc Dutroux provided an object lesson in what is being inflicted on minors worldwide. When Queen Silvia of Sweden closed the congress five days later, delegates commemorated the two girls Dutroux murdered under the symbol of the broken rose.

Never before had the billion-dollar business of child prostitution and pornography, sexual abuse and the dark networks of criminals been so much in the public eye. "We must first ensure that the sexual exploitation of children is criminalized worldwide and without exception," said German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel, who also traveled to Stockholm. He also called for cross-border prosecution, which "must be made easier than it is at the moment".

Mixed results

20 years and several international and national conferences later, the results are mixed: On the one hand, laws have been tightened and police measures have been strengthened. Thus, since 1998, the sexual abuse of children is no longer considered just a misdemeanor, but a crime. Since 2003, the possession of child pornography has also been punishable in Germany. And since 1993, Germans can also be legally prosecuted if they abuse children abroad. But experts consider the law a toothless tiger, with only a few German offenders convicted so far.

Awareness among tour operators also seems to have grown. More and more of them have signed the "Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation in Tourism". The topic is always present at the International Tourism Exchange in Berlin. In addition, a network of aid organizations has emerged to raise awareness of the problem and help victims.

On the other hand, growing tourism, huge refugee movements, poverty and uprooting in developing countries and social problems in Eastern Europe are creating new breeding grounds for sexual offenses against children. Young girls from Africa or Romania and Bulgaria are sold into German brothels. Experts fear that many unaccompanied minor refugees are also being forced into prostitution and abused.

Internet as a Hamdelsplatz

The Internet has increasingly become a trading place and meeting place for pedophiles. For example, the rapid development of new technologies and communication media brings new forms of exploitation such as the abuse of children in front of the webcam.

There are hardly any exact figures on the extent, the number of unreported cases is high: "More children than ever before are affected by sexual exploitation and the phenomenon occurs in all parts of the world," states in any case the Global Study on the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism, which was initiated by the aid organization ECPAT International and published in May.

"About 220 million girls and boys under the age of 18 are victims of sexual violence every year," estimates the children's aid organization terre des hommes. "1.8 million children are forced into prostitution and pornography every year." Tens of thousands of consumers of child pornography fuel the demand for pornographic depictions involving children and encourage the abuse that is always associated with it.

Business worth billions

It's a billion-dollar business: According to estimates, the turnover from child prostitution and child pornography is six billion euros. In Germany alone, terre des hommes estimates there are about 50.000 regular consumers. 100 new Internet sites with child pornography content are created every day.

The Internet has made possible dimensions and marketing channels that could not have been foreseen in Stockholm 20 years ago.

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