THE PRESIDENT of the German Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, has said Pope Benedict’s letter to Irish Catholics can be applied to the church in the pontiff’s homeland.As it faces its own abuse scandal, the German Catholic Church had been characterised by a “culture of cover-up”, the German prelate said, but was now “steering a different course”.
“What the Pope says has relevance for the entire church and is clearly a message to us in Germany,” said Archbishop Zollitsch.
“We know that mistakes were made here in Germany, we German bishops have recognised these mistakes . . . and cannot allow these mistakes to be repeated. Therefore I understand the pope’s admonition of the bishops in Ireland as an admonition of us. The scandal of sexual abuse is no mere Irish problem. It is a problem of the church in many places and it is a scandal of the church in Germany.”
What began as a drip of abuse allegations in a Berlin Jesuit academy and other religious schools in January, has now become a wave of sexual and physical abuse in reform schools and other institutions.
Some 250 clerical abuse claims have been registered to date, many dating back decades, forcing German bishops to announce an overhaul of guidelines for reporting child abuse.
The publication of the pope’s letter was followed closely in his homeland, with many parishes reciting the appended prayer.
Referring to the prayer, Archbishop Zollitsch called on German believers to “make it their own for our country”.
There was widespread disappointment in the German media and among lay organisations that the pope did not refer explicitly to the German abuse scandal.
“It’s regrettable that he doesn’t make church structures responsible for the ‘destructive problem of child sexual abuse but rapid social change’,” said Christian Weisner of “We are Church.”
“The Catholic reform movement sees a realignment of the sexual teaching as unavoidable. This must include the celibacy issue, which is now questioned by bishops and cardinals.”
Another reform group “Church from Below” described the pope as “himself the architect of the system that covered up these crimes for decades”.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Zollitsch was forced to apologise yesterday ahead of a TV report this evening claiming he intervened to prevent a priest being charged with child abuse.
German public TV claims that in 1991 Archbishop Zollitsch, then personnel manager in the diocese of Freiburg, recommended retirement of the priest accused of at least 17 cases of child abuse between 1968 and 1991.
According to the report, the diocese told authorities of the abuse claims in 1995, when one of the priest’s alleged victims pressed charges and the priest killed himself.
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