German Church; Researchers Fall out over Abuse

Winona Daily News
January 9, 2013

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File - In this July 5, 2011 file picture Prof. Christian Pfeiffer Director of the Lower Saxony Criminological Research Institute speaks during a press conference in Meppen, northern Germany. Germany's Roman Catholic Church has fallen out with the prominent outside expert who was tasked with researching sexual abuse by clergy dating back decades. The church in 2011 tasked Prof. Christian Pfeiffer's Institute with analyzing data on abuse from German dioceses as far back as 1945. It was part of efforts to address the scandal triggered by revelations in 2010 of abuse in Germany, Pope Benedict XVI's homeland, and elsewhere. But the German Bishops Conference said Wednesday Jan 9, 2013 that "mutual trust is shattered" between the bishops and Pfeiffer and it was terminating its agreement with the institute. It said it would seek a new partner for the project. Pfeiffer told ZDF television some in the church wanted pre-publication checks on the researchers' work, which he termed unacceptable Photo by David Hecker

Germany's Roman Catholic Church has called off an investigation by a renowned outside expert into sexual abuse by clergy over the past few decades after the two sides fell out.

In 2011, the church asked Prof. Christian Pfeiffer's Lower Saxony Criminological Research Institute to analyze data on abuse from German dioceses as far back as 1945. It was part of efforts to address the scandal triggered by revelations in 2010 of abuse of children and youth in Germany, Pope Benedict XVI's homeland, and elsewhere.

However, the German Bishops Conference said Wednesday that "mutual trust is shattered" between the bishops and Pfeiffer, and it was terminating its agreement with the institute. It said it would seek a new partner for the project, without elaborating.

Pfeiffer said that researchers and church worked well together for the first few months, but then resistance emerged, starting with a call from the Munich archdiocese for the researchers "to bow to church requests for stronger controls" on their work.

A group representing German dioceses then called for the researchers' work to be submitted for pre-publication approval, Pfeiffer told ZDF television, a demand that he said was unacceptable.

A statement from the bishops' conference said that Pfeiffer's "way of communication with church officials" had made "further constructive cooperation" impossible. It did not elaborate.

Benedict, who was then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, served as archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982.