Expert opinion reveals numerous cases of abuse: Cardinal draws the consequences - two accused are dismissed

On Thursday (March 18th) a previously unique report on how the Archdiocese of Cologne dealt with allegations of sexual abuse was presented.

The results are terrifying.

Cologne - On Thursday (March 18), criminal lawyer Björn Gercke presented his 800-page report on how the Archdiocese of Cologne * dealt with allegations of sexual abuse.

The report found indications of 202 suspects.

It is the first report of its kind in which the names of those responsible are named without blackening.

Gercke, together with other people, has evaluated the church files of the Diocese of Cologne from 1975 to 2018 in the past few months.

It was found that the majority of the victims were boys.

63 percent of the accused were priests.

In about 32 percent of the cases it was sexual abuse and almost 15 percent serious sexual abuse.

According to Gercke, the other identified cases can be summarized under border violations and other sexual misconduct.

Expert opinion on sexual abuse: considerable allegations against the Archdiocese of Cologne

In addition, Gercke has criticized the diocese's filing as extremely poor.

"We have found significant deficiencies with regard to the organization of the files and the management of files in the archdiocese," said Gercke.

With some files, he and his team had the impression that parts of the files were missing, because the conduct of the proceedings was incomprehensible.

The report showed that "for decades no one has apparently dared to report such cases".

An initial report from a Munich law firm was kept under lock and key by Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki from Cologne.

The cardinal cited legal concerns as the reason.

This behavior had triggered a crisis of confidence in the largest German diocese and resulted in numerous resignations from the church.

However, the Gercke report largely exonerated Woelki.

There were no breaches of duty at Woelki, said criminal Björn Gercke.

The report from Munich and the Vatican, which was kept under lock and key, came to the same conclusion.

Perpetrators named: Cardinal Joachim Meisner and Joseph Höffner

However, serious allegations were made against the Archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Heße, who used to work in Cologne and was responsible for human resources for a long time.

During the file review, a total of eleven breaches of duty were found with regard to Heße.

Seven of the breaches of duty are improperly handled cases of abuse.

On the basis of the files, a total of 75 breaches of duty were found between 1975 and 2018, which were committed by eight living or deceased persons responsible.

The most serious allegations were made against Cardinal Joachim Meisner from Cologne, who died in 2017.

He was accused of 24 breaches of duty and thus almost a third of all identified cases.

In addition, Cardinal Joseph Höffner, who died in 1987, was accused of breach of duty.

Cardinal Woelki draws conclusions: two employees are dismissed

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki responded directly to the presentation of the report by temporarily dismissing two employees.

His statement in this regard was clear: “Therefore, from the situation of the hour and also on the basis of what I have just heard, I would like to temporarily release the just named Auxiliary Bishop Schwaderlapp and Mr. Official Assenmacher from their duties with immediate effect ".

(Astrid Theil / dpa / afp) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.