"Now everything is collapsing like a house of cards," says a former ministrant who had spoken in "SPIEGEL" three years ago because he had been abused as a boy by the Hildesheim Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen. The person concerned stated that the bishop abused him regularly in the fifties and sixties through masturbation, oral and anal intercourse.

After the person concerned had turned to the diocese, he received 10,000 euros as a "recognition payment". But in the church work according to the SPIEGEL report and also the public reactions of the diocese did not do much. The Bishop, who died in 1988, seemed beyond any doubt. "I was not believed, my allegations were rejected as impossible and even spread discredited comments against me, it was all about money," says the former ministrant. The then Bishop Norbert Trelle did not want to hear his allegations. "That hurt me."

An external report prepared by a Munich institute on behalf of the diocese came to the conclusion in 2017 that the allegation against Janssen can neither be proven nor invalidated. This is after so long time "neither with judicial nor with psychological procedures possible".

Now, the allegation of another suspected victim has brought movement into the case: A 70-year-old former ministrant claimed to have been sexually abused by several church workers, including ex-bishop Janssen. So he had to strip naked before the then bishop. As a further perpetrator named the man the head of the former Hildesheim children's home "Bernwardshof", a priest and a chaplain in the children's home "Johannishof". Both accused clergymen are already known to the diocese as alleged perpetrators of more than 150 other Hildesheimer cases.

"The parallels to my case are frightening," the first witness told SPIEGEL. "To the bishop, children were brought in by helpers from the neighborhoods of the children's homes, for me it was a chaplain, Janssen was a great patron of these homes, he liked to hang out there often, and I think there was a pedophile network. "

DPA

Heinrich Maria Janssen (archive)

The statements hit the diocese of Hildesheim right in the heart. For Bishop Janssen is still considered a dignitary close to the people with numerous followers. The prominent bishop was even honorary citizen of the city and placed in a representative grave - in the middle of the cathedral to Hildesheim.

"This bishop, who abused me and others and harmed them for life, is not just in the cathedral - he is still worshiped there, it can not be! The guy has to get out of the cathedral," says the former ministrant. "How many victims do you need to believe what happened?"

Hildesheim's Bishop Heiner Wilmer, who came to power in September, said he was "angry and sad" after the new allegations, according to NDR. "It tears my heart in the face of what the person has told us," said Wilmer. He now wants to stimulate an external investigation and speak later this week at a meeting of several bishoprics with the Lower Saxony Justice Minister Barbara Havliza (CDU) on the disclosure of church records for prosecutors.