GERMANY
La Croix International
March 18, 2019
As thousands of victims of predator priests in Germany seek redress for clerical sex abuse, German Catholic bishops conceded they must admit wrongdoing and make amends, but failed to offer a timetable.
Cardinal Reinhard Marx, head of the German bishops’ conference, said March 14 that the culture of silence and cover-ups “is over,” adding this should have been dealt with “perhaps 20 years, 30 years ago,” AFP reports.
However, “the process of cleansing is not finished in three days, it’s a continuing path,” he said.Critics say Cardinal Marx was resorting to the Church’s default setting of stonewalling on the issue, as he would not be drawn on concrete plans or dates for new policies or compensation payouts.
The prelate made the remarks at the end of a four-day episcopal conference in Lingen that was punctuated by a rally outside its gates organized by the Catholic Women’s Community of Germany.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.