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  South Africa Child Sex Inquiry Widens to Germany

Monsters and Critics
May 4, 2010

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1553100.php/South-Africa-child-sex-inquiry-widens-to-Germany

Berlin - A Catholic priest in South Africa who is facing child-sex charges is alleged to have previously molested a boy in Germany, his home diocese said Tuesday in the city of Aachen.

Prosecutors in the city of Krefeld confirmed they had begun a criminal inquiry, but gave no details.

The diocese of Aachen, near the Dutch border, said the German had transferred in 2007 to an agency of the German Bishops' Conference which sends priests abroad to say mass for German emigrants. He had served in Aachen from 1994 to 2007.The diocese said that after months of rumours about the priest, it had made a public appeal for any former victims to step forward. Some time later, a German told the diocese his son had been molested. The son, who is now an adult, then filed a complaint with police.

The German Catholic Church has adopted an openness policy in recent weeks, publicizing allegations against its priests, referring a series of cases to the police and setting up a national phone line for people to report abuse.

The church has been criticized in many nations for trying to deflect police and public attention from child molestation.

 
 

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