Friday, September 24, 2010

Germany's Roman Catholic bishops: No compensation yet for sex abuse victims

The head of Germany's Roman Catholic church says it needs more time before it can say how much it will pay out in compensation to the hundreds of people who claim to have been abused by priests.

Robert Zollitsch, the head of Germany's bishops conference, said Thursday that church leaders would continue to discuss the compensation payments, but were not yet ready to name a sum.

He gave no timeline for when talks could be wrapped up.

Germany's church has come under fire for so far failing to compensate abuse victims.

The nation's Jesuit order offered last week to pay €5,000 ($6,500) per case, but that was rejected by victims as not enough.

SIC: TCP/EU