The Abuse Commissioner of the German Bishops' Conference, Stephan Ackermann, has tried to show that demands for a state investigation of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church are irrelevant.

After the presentation of the Munich abuse report, voices were raised that the church needed "outside help," said the Bishop of Trier on Friday during the third general assembly of the Synodal Path in Frankfurt.

However, the bishops themselves had said "from the beginning" - since the publication of the abuse study in 2018 - that such outside help was necessary, according to Ackermann in his report on the status of the abuse investigation.

There has long been state participation in the work-up.

Thomas Jansen

Editor in Politics.

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Ackermann wanted the agreement between the bishops’ conference and the federal government’s abuse commissioner of June 2020 to be understood as proof of this.

It sets criteria for setting up independent review commissions in the dioceses.

However, the bishops do not grant the abuse commissioner any control rights or sanction options in the event that they do not comply with the agreement.

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As a further example, Ackermann pointed out that the state governments should each nominate four members for these review commissions of the dioceses.

"I think that makes it clear: we need this participation and we want it," summed up the abuse officer.

He ignored the fact that the demand for a state investigation usually means the establishment of a kind of truth commission by the Bundestag or another state authority with extensive control rights.

Nevertheless, the Advisory Board of the Bishops' Conference on Friday initially gave unusual praise: The new personnel file system of the Bishops' Conference is "good and correct" and the "maximum of what is possible under data protection law," said Johannes Norpoth, one of the spokesmen.

The rules that came into force at the beginning of the year were a consequence of the abuse study by the bishops' conference.

She had complained about blatant deficiencies in the previous file management, which opened the door to a cover-up.

But that was the only praise for the bishops.

Norpoth accused them of ignoring the Victims' Advisory Council's criticism of the process for acknowledging abuse victims and "sitting out the problem."

The Advisory Board complains that the procedures are taking too long and the amounts involved are too low.

Norpoth also accused the bishops of turning down the Advisory Council's request to be invited to the November Permanent Council meeting to present their criticism.

For weeks and months, the bishops have been preaching “of shared responsibility for overcoming this crisis, of openness and transparency”.

But when it came to one of the central topics of dealing with sexualized violence, they assigned the advisory board “at best a seat at the side table,” said Norpoth.