Thursday, March 06, 2025

Abuse report on the Diocese of Würzburg to be published on 8 April

An expert report on cases of abuse in the diocese of Würzburg between 1945 and 2019 will be published on 8 April. 

This was announced by the Independent Commission for the Investigation of Sexual Abuse in Würzburg on Monday. 

The commission commissioned the report from Wiesbaden lawyer Hendrik Schneider in November. 

It will also be presented to Würzburg Bishop Franz Jung at a press conference, it said. 

Prior to this, it will be "presented to those affected in a protected setting". 

One of them will also attend the publication date.

Goal: taking stock and comprehensive clarification of the cases

According to its own statements, the commission has defined the questions for the expert in close consultation with the Würzburg Advisory Board for Victims. The aim is to take stock of the situation and provide comprehensive clarification of the cases. 

In addition, the expert is to explain how the diocese dealt with perpetrators and victims and which structures enabled, facilitated or made it more difficult to uncover abuse.

In September 2021, the diocese commissioned the Würzburg church historian Dominik Burkard to carry out another historical report. He was given five years to complete it. 

Würzburg is the second diocese in Bavaria for which a law firm has submitted an expert report on abuse. 

Unlike in Munich in 2022, however, it is not the diocese management but an independent investigation commission that is the sole client.

A prominent bishop

The period under investigation also includes the term of office of a bishop who later became one of the most important Catholic figures in Germany: Cardinal Julius Döpfner (1913-1976). Born in Lower Franconia, he was bishop in his home diocese of Würzburg from 1948 to 1957, and later in Berlin and Munich. 

Döpfner played an important role in the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and was chairman of the German Bishops' Conference from 1965 until his death.

During his term of office as Archbishop of Munich and Freising (1961-1976), the Westpfahl-Spilker-Wastl law firm found that Döpfner had made mistakes in dealing with 14 cases of abuse. 

In contrast to his predecessor Joseph Wendel, Döpfner had reinstated clergy suspected of sexual abuse in pastoral care without restriction or supervision. 

In addition, under him, priests from other German dioceses and abroad who had committed offences in this regard had been taken on as pastors much more frequently than before.