GERMANY
The Canary

JULY 18TH, 2017 Ed Sykes ED SYKES

A new child abuse report has come out in Germany. And it reveals shocking details of past sexual assault by members of the Catholic church. It also serves as another reminder that justice for abuse victims is still a long way off.

When schools become a “prison” of “fear, violence and hopelessness”

The report found there were at least 67 cases of sexual abuse over six decades at the Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir boarding schools in southern Germany. There were also 500 cases of physical abuse. Nine of the 49 members of the Catholic church involved in the scandal were perpetrators of sexual abuse.

The lawyer who investigated the abuse, Ulrich Weber, explained how there had been a “culture of silence”. And he said the head of the choir from 1964 to 1994, Georg Ratzinger, could take part…