The head of the German bishops confirms that the church has destroyed records of sexual abuse – 23/02/2019

The Catholic Church destroyed records on priests who committed badual abuse, recognized by the German cardinal Saturday Reinhard Marx during the third day of a historic summit in the Vatican to fight against clerical pedophilia.

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

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"The badual abuse of children and young people is due, in a not insignificant proportion, to to the abuse of power of the administration", he added in his speech to the participants at the meeting, that Pope Francis convened.

Participants, including 114 episcopal conference holders from around the world, came together to talk about silence and concealment of pedophilia on the part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

The Argentine pontiff opened the meeting on Thursday and all heard heartrending testimonies of victims of abuse.

"Instead of punishing the guilty, the victims were reprimanded and silenced," said Marx. "The procedures and procedures established to prosecute these crimes have been deliberately ignored, or even erased or canceled."

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According to the German cardinal, "the rights of the victims have been trampled and left to the free will of individuals ".

Known for his progressive positions, Marx also criticized the fact that the "pontifical secret" is often presented as a justification by the Church and even worse in cases of badual abuse by priests.

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The cardinal asked more transparency on the trials conducted by the Church and demanded that the number of cases examined by the ecclesiastical courts and their details be disclosed.

sources: AFP and Reuters. AEZ