Church 'acted promptly' on abuse
Vatican responds to latest German cases
09 March, 16:24
(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 9 - The Catholic Church acted
quickly on child sex abuse in Germany and elsewhere, the Vatican
said Tuesday.The Church "dealt with the manifestation of the problem promptly and decisively," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said a day after German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said a 2001 Vatican directive for cases to be first handled internally had helped set up "a wall of silence" in Catholic schools.
The minister's insistence on prosecutors being brought in as soon as possible was later toned down by Chancellor Angela Merkel who praised the German Church for taking "very, very important steps in confronting the problem very seriously".
Two of the cases allegedly involved the famed Regensburg boys' choir headed from 1964 to 1994 by Pope Benedict XVI's brother Georg, who reiterated Tuesday he had not been aware of them and apologised to the victims.
Catholic Church sources said at the weekend the cases occurred before Georg Ratzinger took charge.
Father Lombardi stressed Tuesday that the institutions involved in the spate of allegations "showed they wanted transparency".
"Indeed," he told Vatican Radio, "in a certain sense they hastened the manifestation of the problem by urging the victims to speak out even when the cases occurred a long time ago".
"By doing so,it tackled the question on the right foot because the correct departure point is a recognition of what happened, concern for the victims, and the consequences of the acts carried out against them".
Benedict recently tasked officials with drafting new strategies to prevent abuse and cover-ups such as those recently exposed in Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands.
Father Lombardi said the Vatican will shortly issue "new operational pointers" to "fine-tune prevention strategies".
Lombardi said the Vatican welcomed Germany's announcement of round-table meetings involving school, church and other representatives to detect and prevent abuse.
"The Church is naturally ready to take part and commit itself" to such events, he said.
Recalling that paedophilia is not confined to religious institutions, he said the Catholic Church's "painful experience can be a useful contribution for others".
In Austria, for example, there were 17 recently attested cases in Church institutions compared to 510 in "other milieux".
The first German round-table is scheduled for April 23.
Benedict is set to meet the head of the German bishops' conference later this week.
Last month the pontiff announced an upcoming pastoral letter to the Irish Church in response to two reports on decades of abuse and cover-ups which have led to the resignation of several bishops.
photo: pope with Merkel in 2006
