The Church recognizes that she has destroyed records on sexual abuse

The Catholic Church has destroyed records of perpetrators of badual abuse, acknowledged influential cardinal Reinhard Marx at the historic Vatican summit on the fight against pedophilia.

"The archives that could have documented these terrible acts and the names of those responsible have been destroyed or even not created," said the president of the German Bishops' Conference.

The cardinal's harsh denunciation generated the immediate reaction of one of the organizations defending the victims of pedophile priests present in Rome for the occasion.

"It's illegal," said US-based Peter Isely, founder of the ECA (End Clergy Abuse) while participating in an organized march this Saturday in the heart of Rome to call for immediate action.

"The badual abuse of children and young people is due, in no small part, to the abuse of power of the administration," said the German cardinal during his speech to the summit participants, including 114 presidents of episcopal conferences the world also called to speak of the silence and concealment of pedophilia on the part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

"Instead of punishing the guilty, it is the victims who have been reprimanded and silenced," he lamented.

"The procedures and procedures established to prosecute these crimes have been deliberately ignored, even erased or canceled," he insisted.

"In fact, the rights of victims have been trampled and left to the free will of individuals," denounced the cardinal.

The Archbishop of Munich and Freising, known for his progressive positions, criticized the fact that the "pontifical secret" is often presented as a justification by the Church. by other prelates during working days. (AFP-NA)