Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano on Monday expressed "unbounded indignation" at the alleged sexual attacks on women by gangs of migrant men in Cologne on New Year's Eve.
Groups of men, mostly of North African or Arab origin, are suspected of surrounding women and then threatening, assaulting and robbing them. Hundreds of criminal complaints were filed in relation to events in the German city on New Year's Eve, with a large proportion alleging sexual assault.
Police are investigating 19 foreign men over the attacks, including 10 asylum seekers.
The case has heighten criticism of the German's government's policy on refugees, after over one million arrived in the country last year. "There can be no space for sexist violence," said Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, the archbishop of Cologne, in the Osservatore Romano article. "What happens violates human dignity and is absolutely disgusting".
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