He keeps his distance

adminonDecember 10, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Prince Charles © Dean Lewins

Prince Charles has distanced himself from a pedophile Anglican bishop with whom he was friends for many years. A letter from the prince on the case was read to a British committee on sexual abuse.

In the letter, he rejected speculation in the media that he had interfered in the proceedings against former Bishop Peter Ball.

The former Anglican bishop of Gloucester was sentenced in 2015 to 32 months in prison for "misconduct in a public office" and 15 months for "sexual assault". The 83-year-old had previously confessed to sexually abusing 18 teenagers and young men between 1977 and 1992. Already in the early 90s, one of the victims had accused the then bishop. Ball had only been warned at the time.

Not interfering in investigations

British media reported members of the royal family had intervened in the case. Prince Charles has now contradicted this in his statement, saying that while he had repeatedly exchanged letters with the bishop, he had not interfered with the police investigation.

Charles added that he regretted being wrong about the bishop: "It is important to note that in the 1980s and 1990s it was basically amed that people like bishops could be believed."Peter Ball had told him that he had been a victim of "indiscretion", which led to his resignation as bishop. After Ball's 2015 conviction, he immediately cut off contact with the bishop, Charles reported.

Bishop financially supported

However, the prince confirmed that he had financially supported the bishop after his resignation, giving him small gifts of money from time to time. In addition, he said, he helped Ball find a new home in one of Duchy's houses after he had to move out of the bishop's home.

Like many others, he had been deceived over a long period of time, Charles explained. The "true background to Mr. Ball's activities" had not been known to him. To help the inquiry committee, he said, he had agreed to volunteer to set out the facts in a letter.

In the debate about how to deal with sexual abuse, a duty to report has been brought up for discussion. Federal Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger is in favor, as are the Bavarian bishops. Lawyers and child protection experts, on the other hand, have major reservations.

Wurzburg law professor Klaus Laubenthal also categorically rejects such a change. Laubenthal specializes in sex crimes law and has been practicing for 13. March Contact person of the diocese of Wurzburg for victims of abuse. According to his catch, mandatory reporting would not be in the interest of the victims. For almost two weeks now, Laubenthal has been dealing with the ie not only theoretically. "Massively traumatized people" contact him by e-mail and telephone. Often he is the first person to whom they confide their terrible secret, sometimes after more than 50 years. In recent cases that are brought to his attention, he says he has also involved the public prosecutor's office, "but only if the victims want it". In Germany, there is a duty to report only very few, most serious crimes, such as treason, murder, kidnapping or arson. Moreover, it does not apply to acts that have already been committed, but only to planned acts. Anyone who becomes aware of them and does not report them faces up to five years in prison. 2003 first bill Earlier it was suggested to extend this threat of punishment to confidants of sexual abuse. The red-green coalition put a bill on the table for this in 2003. The then Federal Minister of Justice Brigitte Zypries (SPD) hoped to improve the protection of children. Their environment, i.e. relatives and neighbors, should be sensitized in this way to look and thus the enormous number of unreported cases should be reduced. Criminologists suggest that for every reported abuse, there are between 20 and 100 unpunished assaults. But Zypries' plan was almost unanimously rejected in an expert hearing in the Bundestag. Even the weakened proposal for mandatory reporting was rejected by the justice ministers of the federal states. Child protectors and aid agencies warned at the time that mandatory reporting would do the opposite of what was intended. The perpetrators would only increase the prere to keep the children secret. They need a lot of courage to confide in adults anyway, according to the Cologne-based association Zartbitter. "That would encourage denunciation" Sexual abuse is about experiences "in an area of the personality that one generally does not like to talk about with a stranger," Laubenthal also objects. The lawyer, who is also a psychologist, considers it absolutely inappropriate to drag the victims into the public eye by law. Laubenthal is also skeptical about an institutionally anchored obligation to report, for example in schools. "That would encourage denunciation," he says, noting that such a suspicious message can also destroy social livelihoods. There would be about the danger of getting rid of a disliked colleague in this way. For the abuse commissioner, the victim's interest has absolute priority – with one exception: If crimes are described to him under the seal of secrecy in the knowledge that the perpetrator still has contact with other potential victims today, he faces a difficult balancing act. Which is more valid, the request for confidential treatment or the defense of a concrete danger of further acts? Laubenthal has not yet experienced such a dilemma. Depending on the situation of the case, however, it could be necessary to press charges, he says.

Bishop Walter Mixa, who has resigned, wants to move out of Augsburg's Episcopal Palace, according to a report in the newspaper Bild am Sonntag. Mixa wants to continue as a priest despite all the accusations, a confidant of Mixa said according to the paper. Over the weekend, there was also further speculation about the background to the resignation.

"He is now looking for his own apartment or a house to rent," a confidant of Mixa said, according to the paper. After a stay in hospital in Switzerland, the former bishop of Augsburg still lives in the official residence of the Episcopal Ordinariate.Meanwhile, over the weekend, debate continued over the circumstances of Mixa's resignation. According to information from the news magazine "Focus", Pope Benedict XIV had. even instructed Archbishops Robert Zollitsch and Reinhard Marx in April to persuade Mixa to take some time off. Initially, Benedict had entrusted this task to his Apostolic Nuncio in Germany. When Augsburg bishop did not respond, pope sent Freiburg and Munich archbishops, magazine reported.Mixa, on the other hand, had accused his fellow ministers of intrigue a few days ago. They would have forced him to resign because of the beating accusations. In an interview with "Die Welt," Mixa had said he wanted to talk to the pope about a possible reinstatement.According to a report in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung," the accusation of sexual abuse was not the reason for the pope to accept Mixa's request for resignation. Therefore, the discontinuation of the investigation by the Augsburg public prosecutor's office does not play a role in this context. According to the newspaper's information, the pope agreed to Mixa's request, which has since been revised, because he had a file with serious accusations against the bishop. These concern Mixa's possible alcoholism and allegations of sexual assault against young priests and candidates for the priesthood.Witnesses from Mixa's closest personal environment had made corresponding statements about his way of life, which were attached to this file, reported the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung". The documents were transmitted via the Apostolic Nunciature in Berlin.In light of the Mixa affair and the numerous cases of abuse in the Church, the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Alois Gluck, reiterated his calls for reforms. There must be talk about new structures that promote cooperation and transparency, Gluck told the "Welt" (Saturday edition). These are "the most effective means against group formation and poisoned situations.". For example, an independent ecclesiastical administrative jurisdiction for the settlement of conflicts was missing.Regarding Mixa, the CSU politician said, "The Causa Mixa is for me also a deep human and personal tragedy."He hopes that with the help of Rome it will soon be possible to reach a final settlement. "This is important to prevent the creation of legends. And the only thing that helps against the creation of legends and myths is transparency," said Gluck.The case of Mixa was not triggered by an ecclesiastical struggle for direction, the ZdK president emphasized, but by a "person-related fact". He warned against reading into it a directional debate between liberal and conservative forces.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply