Status: 01/27/2022 02:42 am
How does the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising react to the abuse report? Cardinal Marx wants to explain himself in detail today. There are demands for personal consequences – and other affected people who go public.
Exactly a week ago, when the experts from the Westpfahl Spilker Wastl law firm presented their – as they themselves said – “balance sheet of terror”, Richard Kick was also in the room. The 65-year-old was repeatedly sexually abused by a chaplain as a boy over a period of several years.
Only now has he decided to tell his story publicly. In 2010 he had already approached Archbishop Cardinal Reinhard Marx. “He seemed very concerned. I took it from him. The fact was, nobody has asked in all those years: how are you?”
235 alleged perpetrators
His case is one of two in which the experts accuse Cardinal Marx of wrongdoing. For a long time, Marx failed to initiate canonical proceedings against the priest, whose crimes were statute-barred. “Marx is to blame for never reporting it, and that he was then buried with all honors with flag deputations and such – and I was left out in the rain.”
The report mentions at least 496 other victims and 235 alleged perpetrators. And from a presumably much larger dark field.
“It’s about individual guilt”
Although the dimension of the abuse scandal has been known in the Catholic Church for many years, the 1,900-page report triggered an earthquake. Because, according to lawyer Marion Westpfahl, it was primarily about “determining responsibilities and those responsible and naming them, and it is also and especially about individual guilt.”
In addition to Cardinal Marx, all other archbishops of Munich since 1945 are named in the report. Marx’s direct predecessor, Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, has meanwhile apologized for his, so literally, “inappropriate and objectively wrong behavior”.
And Pope Emeritus Benedict corrected his statements in the report on a meeting in which the transfer of a suspected pedophile priest is said to have been discussed. Although Benedict initially denied that he was there, he now describes it as “the result of an error in the editing of his statement”. However, only after the experts had documented his participation in the minutes of the meeting.
The reaction of the President of the Central Committee of German Catholics, Irme Stetter-Karp: “It is correct that he corrects himself. Nevertheless, I get the impression of salami tactics.”
Is Marx offering his resignation again?
Today the Archdiocese will take an official and detailed position. A man from the second row is particularly in focus: Lorenz Wolf. He heads the Bavarian Catholic Office and is chairman of the BR Broadcasting Council. In his function as an official, as the highest church judge in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, the experts charge him with behavior worthy of criticism in 12 cases. Wolf does not want to comment on this at the moment.
There is speculation as to whether Cardinal Reinhard Marx will offer to resign again. The first reaction a few hours after the presentation of the abuse report did not indicate this. Together with the advisory board for those affected, he now wants to advance the work-up, said the cardinal last Thursday.
Dealing with this includes orientation towards the victims of abuse, dealing with incorrect power structures and attitudes. But it’s about more. It is about the renewal of the church. We will continue to work on this together.
Richard Kick is a member of the independent Advisory Board for Affected Persons. He is not asking Cardinal Marx to resign, but finally an honest promise to help the victims and adequate financial compensation for those affected instead of alms. He also wrote this to the cardinal in an open letter this week: “And the hope remains that the turning point will now come.”