Catholic former Archbishop Robert Zollitsch is accused of covering up sexual abuse cases for roughly 30 years in an independent report commissioned by the Freiburg archdiocese.
By Deutsche Welle
“A report on the past handling of sexual abuse cases in one of Germany’s larger Catholic archdioceses, Freiburg, found that the city’s former archbishop did almost everything in his power to conceal perpetrators over a period of roughly 30 years in total.
“The independent report, one of several comparable outside investigations commissioned by Catholic Churches in Germany of late, was critical of Robert Zollitsch’s handling of abuse in the church both as archbishop and during his 20 preceding years as a close associate of his predecessor, Alexander Saier.
“Eugen Endress, a judge and one of the authors of the report, told a press conference on Tuesday (Apr. 18) that Zollitsch would often completely ignore church law when confronted with cases. He described the problem as ‘about covering up by leading personnel.’
“The report said Zollitsch would neither launch preliminary investigations of allegations, as Vatican guidelines recommended, and that in his entire period in office he never reported a single case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Catholic body that can prosecute the clergy.”
By Deutsche Welle — Read more …
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