"Bishop Sproll failed in dealing with sexual abuse! He enabled further abuse through his behaviour," writes Heiss in his recently published book "Missbrauch ... and what was it like with Sproll?".
Sproll was bishop of the Rottenburg-Stuttgart diocese from 1927 to 1949. He is considered the most outspoken opponent of the Nazis among the German bishops of the Nazi era. A beatification process has been underway for Sproll since 2011.
Heiss, a member of the Gesellschaft Katholischer Publizistinnen und Publizisten (GKP), emphasised with regard to his book presentation this Wednesday evening in Rottenburg that his conclusion was devastating: Sproll had shown no empathy for those affected by abuse.
Abusive priests had been transferred, "offered to other dioceses" or "shipped abroad" - and had then committed further acts of abuse.
Sources in the archive
Commenting on his sources, Heiss, who, according to his own statements, researched the personal files of priests in particular, writes: "As the priests in question have usually been dead for more than 30 years, a visit to the diocesan archives is enough to get a picture for yourself."
For example, an "Instruction on the procedure for abuse by priests" authorised by Bishop Sproll in May 1942 is revealing.
According to Heiss, the guidelines consisted of the following: if an accusation was confirmed, the perpetrator had to take a break for a spiritual retreat and could then return to the parish or be transferred to another one.
"Sproll failed in his dealings with priests who were offenders," says the book, in which Heiss describes several cases. It is urgently necessary to see Sproll not only in the light of what he did well.
According to Heiss' assessment, Sproll failed in dealing with sexual abuse. "And not by mistake, but with full knowledge and in consultation with the entire cathedral chapter," the book states.
On the question of whether Sproll should be beatified, Heiss writes that the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart can rightly be "proud of the confessor Sproll". For Sproll's consistency in his behaviour towards the National Socialists should be "held up as an example to all generations".
In the same breath, however, the diocese must "apologise in the name of the confessor bishop to those affected who were exposed to renewed abuse or at least endangered by Sproll's dealings with perpetrators".