The affected person in the Archdiocese of Paderborn estimates the corresponding accusation of a person concerned as credible, as their spokesman Reinhold Harnisch of the Catholic News Agency (KNA) said on Thursday.
He commented before the presentation of a review by the University of Paderborn in the early afternoon.
Two church historians had evaluated church records for six years and talked to contemporary witnesses.
According to Harnisch, the allegations of the person concerned have been in place since the end of 2025. At the time of the alleged act, he is said to have been a minor.
For the representation of the persons concerned, the Degenhardt, who died in 2002, was considered to be the accused.
The group is investigating whether and to what extent there have been other victims and perpetrators.
Degenhardt is also said to have covered up
The Archdiocese of Paderborn could not initially say on request whether the now-acclaim made was already part of those allegations to which it had commented in October.
For reasons of transparency, it had itself published accusations against Degenhardt and against his predecessor, Cardinal Lorenz Jaeger.
However, the previously known accusations were partly incomplete, contradictory or brought via third parties, according to the archdiocese at the time.
External reviewers would have rated them as unplausible.
In 2021, the researchers at the university had already certified the two archbishops abuse cover-up.
Jaeger and Degenhardt had protected accused clergy and hardly showed care for those affected.
Perpetrators were transferred and further assaults were accepted.