Nearly 2,700 people call German Catholic Church’s sexual abuse hot line in its first 3 days

Nearly 2,700 call German church abuse hot line

BERLIN — Nearly 2,700 people have called the church’s sexual abuse hot line in Germany in the first three days it was operating, a Catholic church spokesman said Tuesday.

A team of psychologists and other experts had conversations with 394 people so far, ranging from several minutes up to an hour, Trier Diocese spokesman Stephan Kronenburg said.

“Most callers report cases of sexual abuse,” he told The Associated Press.

The hot line — which began operating March 30 — received around 13,300 calls total in its first three days. Kronenburg said this worked out to about 2,670 people, as many called several times.

In addition, around 100 people used an online form to contact the service.

Most of the callers are people who say they were victims of sexual abuse or their relatives, with some callers also reporting cases of physical abuse, he said.

“The boundaries between both are often loose,” Kronenburg added.

The Catholic Church in Pope Benedict XVI’s homeland has been rocked by a widening scandal of physical and sexual abuse in recent weeks, with hundreds of people who say they were victims coming forward.

The church decided to set up a national hot line as pressure mounted and many victims seemed reluctant to report abuse cases to the diocese where they had been abused.

Most cases date back years, if not decades, and the statute of limitations may have passed, Kronenburg said.

“The hot line shall give the victims an opportunity to talk about what has happened to them. From there, we decide what to counsel them,” Kronenburg told the AP.

Should the hot line experts learn of an alleged child abuse case involving a priest currently on duty, they would alert the diocese and also prosecutors, Kronenburg said.

In the past, the Catholic Church was accused of covering up abuse cases. Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger for instance spoke of a “wall of silence” surrounding the church.

During the Easter holidays, however, several prominent bishops — among them the dean of the bishops’ conference, Robert Zollitsch — called for a “renewal” of the church and condemned the abuses cases as “heinous crimes.”

In Munich, meanwhile, an independent lawyer hired by the church wrapped up his investigation of abuse allegations at the southern Ettal monastery.

“The investigation clearly shows a system of abuse that lasted for decades,” Thomas Pfister told the AP.

There are some cases of sexual abuse, but most of the victims who came forward were physically abused, Pfister said in a telephone interview. Most cases happened before 1990, he added.

The lawyer declined to cite exact figures or release more details on the reported cases as his final report is due to be published next week.