External reappraisal is initiated

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Limburg Cathedral behind leaves © Fredrik Von Erichsen

The Archdiocese of Bamberg filed criminal charges against a priest of the Diocese of Limburg with the Marburg public prosecutor's office at the end of December. The victim has reported to the abuse commissioner of the Archdiocese of Bamberg.

At the end of December, the archdiocese of Bamberg filed criminal charges against a priest of the diocese of Limburg with the public prosecutor's office in Marburg. The accused had sexually abused a minor boy several times from 1986 to 1993. The acts are alleged to have been committed in the diocese of Limburg. In the course of the reporting on the MHG study on sexual abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church, the victim had contacted the abuse commissioner of the archdiocese of Bamberg.

The accused was active in parish pastoral care in the diocese for many decades until his retirement. He is spending his retirement in the archdiocese of Bamberg. There he had taken over occasionally divine service representations. The diocese of Limburg and the archdiocese of Bamberg have, in accordance with the guidelines of the German Bishops' Conference, banned the accused from exercising any priestly ministry. The diocese Limburg had initiated the church-criminal preliminary investigation.

Victim incriminates those responsible in the diocese

In the personnel file of the accused, which is kept in the Limburg diocese, there is no evidence of sexual abuse. In his testimony, the victim incriminates those in charge of the diocese at the time and reports that they had knowledge of the abuse.

The diocese takes the accusations very seriously and has initiated an external processing of this case. An independent lawyer will investigate the matter and question those responsible at the time. The findings will be made available to the state investigative authorities.

Bishop Georg Batzing © Andreas Arnold

Church and spirituality are in demand in the Corona crisis, according to the president of the German Bishops' Conference, Bishop Georg Batzing. In a newspaper interview, he also commented on abuse and other ies.

"I experience that there is a lot of prayer," said Batzing in an interview with the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung". Many people had reviewed their resolutions in the just ended Lent, for example, selectively to give up sweets, said the Limburg bishop. And many have "accepted what is now demanded of us: namely, the isolation, the distance, the renunciation of physical closeness, in order to protect those who are close to us and who are at risk."

The situation of celebrating church services without believers is "strange", Batzing added. "Liturgy is dialogue. Now we priests lack dialogue partners." Church services in digital transmission are a way to still stay connected with each other: "There have never been so many streamed church services as there are now."

He expects that the Corona crisis will bring about significant changes, the bishop explained. "I would be happy if this crisis would lead to more solidarity not only in Germany, but in all of Europe." In addition, he hopes "that we get a better idea of what counts in life. This often recedes into the background," Batzing said. In the midst of the crisis, Easter was a "point of hope" that made it tangible: "We can endure this because we know that life will blossom again."

Cover-up of abuse was "colossal mistake" by church

Bishop Georg Batzing has called the cover-up of abuse cases by clergymen a "colossal mistake". "The perspective at that time could not draw on the knowledge that we have today," he said in an interview with the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung". This is not an excuse, but must be considered.

Today it is known "what abuse does to children and young people," Batzing continued. "From today's perspective, it is no longer comprehensible that those affected were not heard and perpetrators were protected."In the past, on the other hand, both society and church representatives believed "that sexual tendencies could be treated and that abuse could be stopped. The victims' perspective was not in view." In retrospect, this is "very shameful," the bishop said. "Today we are further there from bitter insight."

Compensation payments

On the financing of compensation for pain and suffering to those affected, Batzing said the bishops' conference had "deliberately not chosen a uniform solution". He said he could understand if people objected to such payments being made from church tax funds. On the other hand, there is "not a cent in the assets of a diocese that does not belong to all church members. There are dioceses that have nothing else, especially in the East." First, the perpetrators should be held accountable, the bishop added – "but very many are no longer alive".

The bishops had agreed in early March to significantly higher payments to victims of abuse than before. According to the model, the church is guided by the civil law pain and suffering compensation table and corresponding court rulings. This currently means sums between 5.000 and 50.000 euros per case. At the same time, the church always wants to pay the sums "at the upper end of the discretionary range".

Must "jump over ditches" as church

The church can offer "orientation knowledge," according to the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, he said that in order for people to accept this offer, the church would have to "jump over ditches. With many people, he said, the message is currently getting through that the church remains "with a prohibition morality" on the subject of sexual morality. "I would like to open that up," Batzing emphasized.

He also often hears from young people that they want to stay in the church, the Limburg bishop explained. "But then they say: If you're so slanted off the mark, then I can't do it anymore." This gap must be overcome, he said, "without developing a completely new doctrine.". One example, he said, is the church's position on same-sex relationships. "We've long been moving in moral theology toward saying that when genuine love and fidelity are lived out, we need to acknowledge that. People decide for themselves how to live anyway. Can we tell them that their union is under the blessing of God?"

Also the discussion about the role of women in the church is "not off the table", Batzing emphasized. The goal has not yet been reached with "pay, quotas, women in leadership positions".

To mark International Women's Day on Sunday, the United Nations, politicians and aid organizations called for more action on women's rights. "Every day, women and girls in conflict regions become victims of systematic sexual violence," said German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. The UN Children's Fund Unicef announces a positive report: Girls are catching up in education worldwide.

In most developing countries, for example, school enrollment rates for girls have risen in recent years, the UN Children's Fund announced in Cologne on Friday ahead of International Women's Day. International Women's Day is celebrated every year on 8. March committed. According to recent studies, there are now 97 girls enrolled in school for every 100 boys attending school worldwide, the report continued. Increased investment and targeted campaigns for girls' education had also led to an increase in school enrollment rates for girls in the world's poorest countries from 52 percent to more than 90 percent in the past 30 years, they said. However, girls are still particularly disadvantaged in West and Central Africa and South Asia, according to Unicef. In Mali, for example, there are only 74 girls for every 100 boys in school; in Niger, the ratio is 100 to 82; in Afghanistan, 100 to 61; and in Pakistan, 100 to 85. Major barriers to girls' school attendance remained poverty, child labor, early marriage and pregnancies, and traditional disadvantage in the family and at school. The other side: Gewa According to German Development Minister Wieczorek-Zeuls, in 2008 alone, around 100 women were killed in the Congo.000 women raped. Those affected are becoming younger and younger. Their "psychosocial annihilation" can disrupt entire societies, she warned at an international conference on violence against women in conflict in Berlin. "We are determined to hear this cry of women and not rest until these human rights violations come to an end," she said.In the Bundestag, the opposition criticized the federal government's gender equality policy. Although the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Ursula von der Leyen (CDU), has scored points in family policy, said the women's policy spokeswoman of the FDP parliamentary group, Ina Lenke. But there are deficits in women's policy. The Greens and the Left faction accused the government of inaction.Von der Leyen defended parental allowance and childcare expansion as contributing to equality. At the same time, she acknowledged that women are often disadvantaged. "We have achieved a lot on paternity leave and daycare, but there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality," she said.UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon also called for a reduction in economic disadvantage. "We need economic and social policies that promote women's empowerment," he said in New York. The International Labor Organization estimates that the economic crisis will threaten the jobs of up to 22 million women this year. "A deeply rooted gender inequality" UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, wants to advance legal and actual equality. "Deep-rooted gender inequality and widespread discrimination against women are a reality," she said in Geneva."Doctors Without Borders" called for better care for victims of sexual violence in developing countries. Many countries lack special emergency aid for women who have been raped, said Thilde Knudsen, an aid worker presenting a study on the situation in Liberia, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Colombia.Help must be provided immediately, confidentially and comprehensively, Knudsen said. The most important thing is to prevent infection with HIV and other diseases. Unwanted pregnancies also need to be prevented, he added. In many cases, taboos prevent victims from seeking help.

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