After the presentation of the report on sexual violence in the Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, 48 other victims have reported there. This was announced by Vicar General Christoph Klingan on Thursday in Munich. So far, the report assumed at least 497 victims, but at the same time also a large number of unreported victims who were previously unknown.
The report presented in January showed that cases of sexual abuse of children in the archdiocese had not been dealt with appropriately for decades. The report accuses the former archbishops Friedrich Wetter and Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, of personal misconduct in several cases – as does the current archbishop, Cardinal Reinhard Marx.
The study assumes 235 alleged perpetrators - and a much larger number of unreported cases. A number of cities and communities are now confronted with a flood of people leaving the church.
After the report was submitted, a contact and advice center was set up, which has been contacted by 223 people, including those affected and their relatives. 53 percent of the accused in the cases referred to the counseling center were priests. 29 percent were religious, said Elisabeth Dreyßig from the counseling center. Other church employees as well as teachers and educators in kindergartens were also named as suspects.
Since the German Bishops' Conference decided in 2020 to increase payments for victims of sexual abuse, the archdiocese has paid out a total of 246,000 euros, according to head of department Stephanie Herrmann.
