German Catholics rocked by damning report on child sex abuse
An independent study into child sex abuse in Germany's Roman Catholic Church published Thursday revealed hundreds of alleged cases and led to the resignation of the archbishop of Hamburg. The long-awaited 800-page report on Germany's top diocese Cologne found 202 alleged perpetrators of sexual assault and 314 victims between 1975 and 2018, Bjoern Gercke, a lawyer mandated by the Church, told reporters. "More than half of the victims were children under the age of 14," Gercke said. The findings including abuse by both clergy and laymen show "that for decades, apparently no one dared to report such cases". The Archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Hesse, offered Pope Francis his immediate resignation after the report pinpointed 11 instances of breach of duty linked to abuse allegations during his time as vicar general in the Cologne diocese. Hesse said in a statement he had always acted "to the best of my knowledge and conscience" and had "never participated in any cover-up". "I am nevertheless prepared to bear my share of responsibility for the failure of the system," he said. However, the investigation cleared Cologne's Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki - a conservative who has long...