A new report from Germany’s Catholic Church admits to at least 3,766 cases of child sex abuse by the clergy between 1946 and 2014, according to local publications Die Zeit and Spiegel Online who have seen a leaked copy.
The report — commissioned by the German Bishops’ Conference and conducted by the Universities of Giessen, Heidelberg and Mannheim — has taken four years to assemble and will be released in full Sept. 25.
According to both media outlets, the study found the victims were mostly boys, more than half of whom were aged 13 or younger. Every sixth case involved a rape and at least 1,670 clergy were involved, the report also reveals.
“We know the extent of the sexual abuse that has been demonstrated by the study. We are dismayed and ashamed by it,” Bishop Stephan Ackermann said in a statement to CNN responding to reports of the leak.
Ackermann said the aim of the study was to “gain more clarity and transparency about this dark side of our church, for the sake of those affected, but also to see for ourselves the wrongdoings and to ensure this cannot be repeated.”
The German Bishops’ Conference will initiate a hotline for the public to call a day before the scheduled publication later this month.
Separately on Wednesday, Pope Francis called for an extraordinary meeting of top Catholic officials to discuss the escalating abuse scandal that has made headlines in recent weeks.
Francis will meet the presidents of the Catholic bishops conferences from around the world in the Vatican from Feb. 21-24, according to a Vatican statement on Wednesday.
The pontiff has faced mounting criticism over his handling of historic clerical sex abuse allegations. Last month, a former Vatican ambassador, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, said he had informed the pope about claims regarding former top American cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2013 but no further action was taken. — (CNN)
