Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, the Abusive Commissioner of the Federal Government, has called on the Catholic Church to rethink centuries-old power structures. Celibacy, a "difficult sexual morality", pronounced hierarchies, the "moral power" of the churches and the fact that women played little role in the spiritual environment, favors abuse.
"It is imperative that the church take a critical look at all the building blocks of its structure," said the Independent Representative on Child Sexual Abuse Issues in the wake of the Vatican summit. At the summit on the abuse scandals in the Catholic Church sit since Thursday about 190 church representatives together, including Pope Francis, the chairmen of all episcopal conferences in the world and representatives of the Roman Curia. They talk about responsibility, accountability and transparency.
Also to be discussed is about 21 proposals that Pope Francis had presented surprisingly on the first summit day. At the beginning, he also demanded concrete measures from church leaders to combat sexual abuse.
"There is no institution that represents a more conservative sexual morality and at the same time for decades tolerated, covered up and denied the sexual abuse in their ranks," criticized Rörig.
DPA
Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig
It has been known for decades that priests and other clerics around the world have mistreated children. In Germany, the scandal came to light about ten years ago. In the debate, the Pope himself is under pressure. Victim representatives demand concrete actions from the head of the church. The vast majority of Germans consider the mandatory celibacy of Catholic priests to be a cause of sexual abuse, according to a survey.
Rörig said he does not expect the Vatican meeting to provide a global, conclusive ruling on the issue of celibacy or whether women can be ordained. But the church must question, for example, what leads to the isolation of individual clergy.
Also, the confession of minors must be considered. In the past, this opportunity had also been used to figure out who might possibly commit sexual violence. Or a child had reported under confessional secrets of attacks, which were then not pursued.
In addition, he expects that all identified offenders, whose cases are not yet time-barred, would have to rule on the rule of law. "It must be spoken about structures that unload the guilt of the laity and give the cleric a virtually inviolable position of power," demanded Rörig.
"You must clearly admit the guilt"
The Catholic Church is still a long way from independent work-up, comprehensive education and truly authentic acknowledgment of guilt. "You must clearly admit the guilt - and credible for those affected," said Rörig. "They must admit that for decades they have covered up, denied and denied injustice." The question of compensation must be re-discussed. It is also important that abuse victims would get rights, for example, access to the file.
Even the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Thomas Sternberg, sees still deficits in the processing of abuse scandals in Germany. "It's not as if the dioceses do not care about dealing with the scandals, but that does not happen everywhere," said Sternberg of the "Passauer Neue Presse" newspaper.