On Thursday morning, in front of the Catholic Academy in Schwabing, there is a white sprinter with a banner with caricatures attached: Pope Emeritus Benedict covers his eyes and sees nothing. The Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Marx, covers his ears and hears nothing. And the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Woelki, covers his mouth and says nothing. On the other side of the sprinter the image-Headline “We are Pope” as well as a rephrased version of it from the fictional newspaper Bid (Bishops in Germany): “We are guilty.” The protest ensemble is completed by a large sculpture showing a grinning cleric, softly bedded in a hammock stretched between crosses, with the writing: “12 years of ruthless investigation of the abuse cases”.
Inside, Cardinal Marx is about to begin his press conference on the abuse report presented last week. Outside, critics of the Catholic Church express their anger and disappointment. There is, for example, Michael Wladarsch from the “Bund für Geistfreiheit Munich”. He expects nothing less than “a real landslide” from this day. An admission of guilt that also makes it clear that the church as an institution “has no special rights and no special status, but is a completely normal institution” in which there are many good people as well as mistakes and criminals.
Above all, Wladarsch relies on politics, on the “secular traffic light” that must put an end to this special status – church labor law and church justice must be abolished. Maximilian Steinhaus from the Giordano Bruno Foundation sees it that way. She has called for protest action, together with the “Bund für Geistfreiheit” and the action alliance for those affected, to which various groups belong. If even the Pope lied, says Steinhaus, one cannot assume that the Church made all the files available to the experts.
The protest alliance has therefore, according to its own statement, offered Cardinal Marx to pick up all the files on cases of abuse from the entire post-war period that have not yet been destroyed from the archive of the archdiocese in the afternoon and to transport them to the public prosecutor’s office so that they can take action. If the archdiocese declines the offer, the alliance announced that files will be picked up symbolically from the archive of the archdiocese and carried from Königsplatz to the district court.
Not everyone agrees with the diocesan council’s benevolent assessment
In the meantime, there is still speculation in front of the Catholic Academy as to whether Marx will soon announce his resignation again. Cameramen film red lettering on the white wall of the house. “Kinderfickerv” someone sprayed there. A QR code is emblazoned next to the lettering, which probably remained unfinished and was to grow into a “club”. It leads to a statement on the website of the Catholic Academy. Take the lettering as “further reason for reflection,” it says. Because it also expresses “the dramatic loss of reputation of the church, which is not caused by the bad will of its critics, but by the crimes that have happened inside the church and their cover-up”. Instead of complaining about the vandalism or frantically covering it up, you deal with the topic of abuse. One stage on this path is an online discussion event on the same afternoon.
In the afternoon it was finally clear: Cardinal Marx has not offered his resignation again for the time being. The theology professor and chairman of the diocesan council, Hans Tremmel, evaluates his statement positively. Marx was guided by the desire to renew the Church. “He’s really shaken. He’s ready not only to admit personal misconduct, but to regret it and face it positively in the future. I believe him.” Marx made it clear that he was capable of learning. He is willing to see his own misjudgments and learn from them.
Michaela Huber, chairwoman of the commission to investigate abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising, expressed herself in a similar way. Marx is honestly dismayed that he has understood what a paradigm shift in the church really means. The report is an important part of that.
Hiltrud Beauty, chairwoman of the Catholic Council, the highest lay body in the Munich region, was more cautious. On the one hand, she is grateful for the report, she also likes that Marx wants to make dealing with abuse a top priority. Despite this, she keeps getting stuck with the cardinal’s statement that his job is to preach the gospel and that what happens underneath is not his issue. “I don’t understand this understanding of management and leadership at all.”
The representative of those affected, Matthias Katsch, also criticized. “I doubt that bishops who, like Cardinal Marx, are jointly responsible for the system of abuse in the church, can really organize the awakening and the necessary change,” said the spokesman for the Eckiger Tisch initiative. The internal church reform debate is important. However, the question of the moment must be how those affected can “finally receive the long-promised support and help”.
Referring to Marx, Katsch said: “A week ago the ship ran aground, and today the captain explains that he absolutely has to stay on deck.” The Münster canon lawyer Thomas Schüller said on Bavarian radio that he did not have the impression that Marx had “recognized the seriousness of the situation”. From now on, the church must take a radical look from the perspective of those affected.
Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) uses the word “scandalous”
The Mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter (SPD), also spoke up on Thursday. “I am very shocked by the content of the report that is now available, especially about how the victims are treated and even the downplaying of abuse,” he said when asked. “If it is true, as shown in the report, that these cases of abuse were also covered up by the highest church representatives, that is scandalous.”
Florian Roth, group leader of the Greens in the city council, said that the Catholic Church is an important partner for the city and plays a very positive role in humanitarian issues such as dealing with refugees. “Your credibility now depends heavily on how you deal with those affected by sexualized violence and your own guilt.” Structural and personal consequences, which Cardinal Marx also indicated in his statement, are essential.