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Leaked Report: 1,670 Catholic German Priests Sexually Abuse Hundreds of Altar Boys

A leaked report details 70 years of gross sexual abuse within the German Catholic church. The 350-page report highlights close to 4,000 cases of sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests against minors. The report was due to be released later this month but was leaked on Wednesday to Der Spiegel and Die Zeit.

According to German researchers, the extent of sexual abuse carried on by Catholic clerics in Germany was simply a “historical phenomenon.” The report covers 38,000 church documents relating to 27 German Catholic dioceses. The documents revealed that 1,670 German Catholic priests violated 969 altar boys, with up to a half under 13 years of age.

German Police Never Notified of Priest Sex Abuse Cases, Most Go Free

According to the report, in many instances, German bishops who sexually abused children were transferred to new parishes without informing the larger congregation of the circumstances surrounding their transfer. As a result, the abuse continued, and new parishes were exposed to the sexually abusive bishops.

Many argue transferring bishops to other parishes signified the taciturn acceptance of their wrongdoing by the Catholic Church. In most cases, the police were never aware of what was happening, and only a handful of priests faced criminal charges in German courts. Statistically, just 38 percent of priests accused of sexual abuse ever faced criminal charges in German courts, and reportedly the church only contacted police in just 7 percent of known cases.

Shuffling abusive priests to different parishes was not a practice exclusive to Germany. Just weeks ago in mid-August, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court released a 1,300-page report that implicated over 300 priests in decades of sexual abuse and coverups in six Roman Catholic dioceses of Pennsylvania.

Catholic Dioceses Destroyed Evidence of Priest Sexual Abuse 

Researchers found only a third of the German priests accused of sex abuse were disciplined by the church. A few sex abusers were excommunicated or defrocked, but most others went free. German researchers also discovered that two Catholic dioceses destroyed several files containing sexual abuse decades ago and discovered “clear indications of file manipulation.” Two dioceses told researchers that files containing reports of sexual abuse had been shredded in the past.

The study was researched over a period of four years by researchers from universities in Mannheim, Heidelberg and Giessen. It was commissioned by the German Bishops’ Conference. The researchers said the report was only a first step in the right direction to remedy things in the Catholic Church and urged leaders in different German dioceses to take proactive steps to set things right after the report is presented later this month.

The Vatican has not yet issued a response.

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24 Comments

  1. Joyce Blackburn September 14, 2018

    And they are MEN of GOD?

    Reply
    1. Joyce Blackburn September 14, 2018

      And in every other country also. Not just one country, but all where there are priest.

  2. Owen F. Ward September 14, 2018

    A d the Iris eat potatoes

    Reply
  3. Barry Jackson September 14, 2018

    Some God or another or not at all

    Reply
  4. Charles Freedom September 14, 2018

    Line them up and shoot each one of them. ?

    Reply
  5. Robert Stoll September 14, 2018

    American priests do mnot have A monopoly on abusing young boys in church……..

    Reply
  6. Larry McDonald September 15, 2018

    All these Pedophile priest in the Catholic religion seem be hand in hand with the muslims. When will they be prosecuted.?

    Reply
  7. Christoffe Huser September 15, 2018

    Catholicism should be banished

    Reply
  8. Jeannie Gillespie September 15, 2018

    JAIL

    Reply
  9. Melva Keithley September 15, 2018

    God will handle that.

    Reply
  10. Jeff Kendall September 21, 2018

    Anyone surprised? Anyone?

    Reply
  11. Rina Davis-van Tuil September 21, 2018

    Not only German, but from every other country as well! Priests should be able to marry, so they will leave kids whole!

    Reply
  12. Larry L. Cunningham September 21, 2018

    International disgrace!

    Reply
  13. Alex Fedora September 21, 2018

    Sick would Hanging be leagal.

    Reply
  14. Carol John Arnold September 21, 2018

    The only answer…Each accused should be tried in a court of law and punished accordingly… Anything else would be a sacrilege…My personal view of this massive crime committed by Priests and those above them…

    Reply
  15. Ann Corson September 21, 2018

    Priests? No defense for them, no excuses for them.

    Reply
  16. Tania Marcotty September 21, 2018

    Stop this celibacy nonsense. Have them married before they can be ordained, just like Orthodox priests.

    Reply
  17. Anne Nelson October 12, 2018

    It appears that all Religions are guilty of these crimes against their own people.

    Reply
    1. Robbin Donahue October 12, 2018

      To an extent, Anne. But I don’t think any other church comes close to this scale and pervasion.

    2. Betty Major October 12, 2018

      They are the ones who got caught, hang on the others are coming. organized religion has become criminal cults

  18. Will Feil October 12, 2018

    BS

    Reply
  19. Larry L. Cunningham October 12, 2018

    Beyond deplorable! NONES get it!

    Reply
  20. Bob Berry October 12, 2018

    And the Republican party

    Reply
  21. Helen Lingle October 12, 2018

    Sick shits

    Reply

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