Berlin: Chancellor Angela Merkel said that
sexual abuse of children was a problem facing all of German
society, not just the Roman Catholic Church, amid a
snowballing scandal over paedophile priests.
"It makes no sense, even if the first cases (of abuse)
are in the Catholic Church, to focus on one group. This is
something that has happened in many areas of society," Merkel
said in a speech to parliament.
"And first and foremost it is also something that is
still happening to this day, in part in different forms but
with the same consequences."
She added: "Let us not over-simplify matters ... all in
all this is a test for our entire society."
The German Catholic Church has been thrown into crisis in
recent weeks as hundreds of people have come forward alleging
they were abused as minors by priests between the 1950s and
1980s.
Accusations of abuse have now been made in around
two-thirds of Germany`s 27 dioceses in recent weeks including
in Munich and Freising, where Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope
Benedict XVI, was archbishop from 1977 to 1982.
PTI
