The deep fall of a bishop: Emil Stehle abused young women and hid other perpetrators

Created: 08/10/2022 10:54 am

By: Claudia Möllers

Emil Stehle was a German bishop in Latin America.

(symbol photo) © IMAGO / Design Pics

He was a big name in the Catholic Church, but now the dark truth is coming to light: Emil Stehle, a German bishop in Latin America, sexually abused several young women.

Munich – In 1994 Emil Stehle was in talks about receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

The former managing director of the Latin America aid organization Adveniat was a bishop in Ecuador at the time and mediated in the bloody civil war in El Salvador.

Stehle was well respected, a big name in the Catholic Church.

Five years after his death, it is becoming clear how deeply Stehle was involved in the abuse scandal.

Not only did he hide priests in Latin America who were prosecuted in Germany for sexualised violence – he is also himself accused of sexually abusing young women, as an investigation now shows.

As early as September 2021, with the publication of the abuse study in Hildesheim, Stehle was unmasked as a cover-up and accomplice.

Bishop Emil Stehle is said to have sexually abused at least eight women

The German Bishops' Conference and Adveniat then commissioned the investigation.

Eight affected women have since reported.

"Against Stehle, a total of 16 reports and indications of sexual abuse are listed in the report," it says.

The deeds continued through Stehle's time as a priest in Bogotá (Colombia), as head of the coordination center "Fidei Donum" and Adveniat managing director up to the years as auxiliary bishop of Quito and bishop of Santo Domingo in Ecuador.

Lawyer Bettina Janssen, who led the investigation, states that it is possible that there were other sexual assaults.

He could also have helped more priests to go into hiding.

There is evidence of three priests whom Stehle helped to evade criminal proceedings in Germany in the 1970s.

Since 2005, Cardinal Karl Lehmann and Bishop Zollitsch of Freiburg have also known about Stehle's attacks.

Adveniat's chief executive, Father Martin Maier, is shocked by the suffering inflicted on the victims.

"As head of the coordination office, Stehle has become the perpetrator and accomplice of wanted perpetrators."