Drastic reaction

adminonNovember 11, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Protest action in Chile: Three figures in bishop's garb hang on a bridge © Francisco Castillo

With a drastic protest action against the abuse scandal in Chile's church, the right-wing group "Movimiento Social Patriota" has caused a stir. Three dolls in caridnal garb were "hanged" on a bridge.

As local media reported on Monday (local time), the activists hung three life-size dolls dressed as cardinals on a bridge in the municipality of Providencia, in the greater Santiago metropolitan area. About it on a banner was read: "Abuse priests to the gallows for traitors". Photos and videos of the action went viral on social media and sparked controversial debates.

Abuse victim Cruz: Don't get caught in "spiral of violence"

Chile's church is rocked by an abuse scandal that has made headlines for months. The focus is on the now 87-year-old charismatic priest Fernando Karadima, who was convicted of sexual offenses in 2011. Several bishops emerged from his circle, including Juan Barros of Osorno, who is accused of complicity by Karadima's victims.

One of Chile's most prominent abuse victims, Juan Carlos Cruz, condemned the protest action in Providencia as "barbaric". Abuses must be talked about and criminals brought to justice, but under no circumstances should they be allowed to spiral into a "spiral of violence," Cruz wrote on Twitter.

The Catholic Archbishop of Berlin, Heiner Koch, has expressed reservations about the so-called Kinderwunsch Fair, which is to be held for the first time in Germany. Not all wishes can be fulfilled.

Archbishop Koch commented on Tuesday to the Evangelical Press Service (epd): "I know about the needs of couples who want nothing more than to have a child together, and I take these needs very seriously". At the same time, he was impressed again and again by how intensively bioethical standards were being fought over in the legislature. "It is good that not everything is allowed in Germany that is medically possible and already permitted elsewhere," Koch emphasized.

Egg donation, surrogacy, sex selection ..

The first German trade fair "Kinderwunschtage" is in the coming week (18. and 19. February) is planned in Berlin. The event is controversial because it also presents fertility treatments that are illegal in Germany, such as egg donation, surrogate motherhood or preselection of sex. The fair is aimed at people who suffer from unwanted childlessness. Exhibitors include numerous foreign clinics.

In this context, the Berlin archbishop considers the term "desire for children" to be "problematic, because it suggests that we could fulfill all our wishes ourselves". "For me, a child is and always will be a gift," Koch emphasized.

"No right to parenthood"

Marcus Weinberg, family policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, also expressed reservations about the "Kinderwunsch Messe": "If something is banned in Germany, then it can't be that you advertise it," Weinberg told the "Berliner Zeitung" (Tuesday). "With all understanding and support for medically justified childlessness, there is no right to parenthood in which third parties are instrumentalized," the CDU politician said. Previously, the Berlin regional association of gynecologists had also expressed its disapproval of the "Kinderwunschtagen" (desire for children days).

Will criminal trial take place at Vatican? © Cristian Gennari (CBA)

In the case of a priest twice legally convicted of abuse, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican has begun a criminal trial. The retired chaplain A. was active as a chaplain in three dioceses despite the convictions.

It was not until 2019 that Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki banned the now 87-year-old from priestly services. This was communicated by the Archdiocese of Cologne on Wednesday in response to a request from the Catholic News Agency (KNA).

The priest, who had been working in Cologne since 1960 and then in Essen-Kettwig, was sentenced to prison in 1972 for "continued fornication with children and addicts," according to the statements. Since 1973, he was assigned to various places in the diocese of Munster, until he was sentenced to probation in 1988 for sexual acts with minors. A year later, he returned to Cologne as a chaplain in an old people's home.

As a retired chaplain, he was in Bochum-Wattenscheid from 2002 to 2015. The case had caused heavy criticism at the end of last year.

Special report commissioned

Now the Archdiocese of Cologne confirmed media reports that it and the dioceses of Munster and Essen had commissioned a special report on the case. The expertise, which was completed in August 2019 and has not yet been published, had been prepared by the Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl, which was also to present an independent investigation for the archdiocese of Cologne on the handling of abuse cases by diocesan officials.

Because of alleged shortcomings, the archdiocese has since stopped the publication. With this investigation, the special report should also have been commissioned to A. should be presented, so the archdiocese.

The special report had been important "in order to be able to decide on the basis of a timely evaluation under aspects of criminal law and canon law how to deal with the facts quickly and decisively," it said. It should be investigated who, and to what extent, had knowledge of the sexual assaults of A. had and whether the measures taken met the legal requirements.

According to a media report, the Hamburg archbishop Stefan Hebe is also accused of misconduct in the special report. In 2008, the former head of personnel in the archdiocese of Cologne had been presented with an alleged victim of "massive sexual assaults" by A. reported in a kindergarten in the early 1960s. Hebe had not informed the person concerned about the past of the clergyman. The archbishop denies that.

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