ROME
Crux
Inés San Martín VATICAN CORRESPONDENT
ROME – Earlier this week, an independent investigation commissioned by the Diocese of Regensburg in Germany found that at least 547 former members of the Regensburg Domspatzen boys’ choir were subjected to some form of abuse over a fifty-year period, including 67 who were victims of sexual violence.
The 440-page report, which spanned the years between 1945 and early 1990s, found plausible accusations against 49 members of the Church for physical abuse, including nine for cases of sexual molestation.
The report collects cases of corporal violence, from slaps to physical punishment, and sexual abuse, ranging from inappropriate caresses to rape. It was released on Tuesday by the diocese on its website, and presented in a press conference by Ulrich Weber, the lawyer leading the investigation of claims of abuse at the choir and two associated boarding schools..
Most of those named by the victims have already died. The crimes, however, fall outside Germany’s statute of limitations, meaning they are no longer open to prosecution.
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