THE HEAD of the German Catholic bishops’ conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, has criticised the federal justice minister for suggesting that the church had blocked investigation of clerical abuse cases.
The row has exposed a jurisdiction dispute between church and state authorities in abuse cases and overshadowed renewed pledges by bishops to tackle abuse.
A month after the first allegations became public about sexual and physical abuse at three Jesuit schools, over 130 alleged victims have come forward.
Reacting to the abuse claims yesterday after a four-day church meeting in Freiburg, Dr Zollitsch announced a new telephone hotline for abuse victims and appointed a commissioner for abuse issues. But German bishops rejected the suggestion that the celibacy rule was a factor in abuse.
They agreed on the need to monitor the “psychosexual maturity” of candidates for the priesthood.
The bishops have agreed to update 2002 guidelines that detail procedures for internal church investigations into clerical abuse claims, but which do not oblige church officials to contact the authorities.
Dr Zollitsch promised new rules, to be agreed by the summer, would ensure “active” co-operation with the the police. “We are in favour of an early inclusion of the state authorities . . . and insist on clearing up fully this terrible injustice,” said Dr Zollitsch. “The incorrect claims of the federal justice minister, calling into question the church’s respect for the legal system, are serious allegations.”
In a television interview, justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger suggested church leaders did not have “an active interest in wholehearted clearing up” of clerical abuse.
A furious Dr Zollitsch called chancellor Angela Merkel demanding a retraction. Instead he got a letter from the justice minister requesting a meeting. “For the minister this is about the fundamental question of whether it is in the best interests of the victims that the church investigates first,” said a ministry spokesman.
German law does not oblige suspected cases of child abuse to be reported to the authorities.
Fresh abuse allegations have forced the resignation of the abbot of the Benedictine monastery Ettal in Bavaria, home to one of Germany’s most exclusive boarding schools.
Eight former students have come forward with allegations of abuse dating back to the 1970s.
While Germany’s state-run education system is under fire from international bodies for low standards, the country’s Catholic schools are ranked among the country’s best. Long favoured by the upper classes, the schools’ “elite” reputation could now be undermined.