GERMANY
Il Sismografo
(Christa Pongratz-Lippitt)
A former official in the Diocese of Regensburg (Germany) has accused Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), of systematically covering up sexual abuse cases during his decade as bishop of the Bavarian diocese.
Fritz Wallner, who once worked as chairman of Regensburg’s lay diocesan council, claims that the then-Bishop Müller and his vicar-general, Mgr Michael Fuchs, introduced what Mr Wallner called, “The Regensburg System”, which prevented such abuse cases from coming to light.
He made the claims in a long interview in the 14 January issue of the prestigious German weekly Die Zeit.
The interview came as former members of the Regensburger Domspatzen and other witnesses continued to reveal more stories of physical and sexual abuse by priests inside Germany’s most famous boys’ choir. Their allegations have officials asking why clerical abuse was hushed up for so much longer in Regensburg than in most other German dioceses.
Cardinal Müller was Regensburg’s bishop from late 2002 until the summer of 2012 when Benedict XVI called him to Rome to head the Vatican’s doctrinal office (CDF).
In the Die Zeit interview Mr Wallner attempted to describe how the so-called “Regensburg System” came about under Müller and the consequences it caused. Among other things, he said Mgr Fuchs, who is still vicar-general of the diocese, should step down.
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