Report into allegations of child molestation by German priests reveals only ‘tip of the iceberg’
The Roman Catholic Church faced more turmoil after a report concluded that German priests had molested thousands of children.
Senior church officials apologised after researchers from three universities found evidence of sexual abuse by 1,670 clerics on more than 3,700 children.
Experts said that the cases identified were the “tip of an iceberg” and the full extent of abuse could not be established because of the failure to keep records.
The report, first leaked a month ago, is the latest scandal to hit the Catholic Church, which has been criticised for covering up allegations of abuse.
Investigation were started around the world after The Boston Globe published details of a clergy abuse scandal on the US east coast in 2002, which led to the conviction of five priests.
Other scandals have emerged in countries including in Ireland, Chile and New Zealand, undermining faith in the church.
During a visit to Estonia yesterday, Pope Francis said that young people were right to be angered by the church’s handling of scandals involving sexual abuse and fraud.
He said last year that the church had “arrived late” in dealing with sexual abuse of children by priests.
“They are outraged when they do not see clear condemnations of sexual and economic scandals,” he told an audience of about 1,000 young people in the Estonian capital, Tallinn.
The German study scrutinised records over 70 years until 2014.
“For too long in the church we have looked away, denied, covered up and didn’t want it to be true,” Cardinal Reinhard Marx, chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference said at a launch of the report.
It revealed that more than half of the victims were 13 or younger and that most of them were boys. Every sixth case involved rape and almost 1,000 of the victims were altar boys.
“For all the failure, pain and suffering, I must apologise as the chairman of the Bishops’ Conference, as well as personally,” Cardinal Marx said.
“The study opened our eyes to the fact that this issue has not been overcome.”
The report was commissioned by the church authorities but they refused to give researchers access to original documents, so they had to rely on questionnaires to gather the data.
The university researchers said there was evidence that some files had been destroyed and many cases had not been brought to justice. Echoing findings in other countries, the report found that suspects, primarily parish priests, were moved to new areas without anyone being told about their pasts.