A petition has been launched in Germany urging the Catholic Church not to rely on the statute of limitations in compensation cases brought by victims of abuse.
The petition, announced by the victims’ initiative Eckiger Tisch, was signed by no fewer than 100,000 people in Germany.
“The Catholic Church must no longer invoke the statute of limitations in compensation cases,” said the group’s co-founder Matthias Katsch before the start of the autumn plenary assembly of the German Bishops’ Conference in Fulda.
In response to revelations of widespread abuse of children and young people by priests, especially in the early post-war decades, the Church established a system of voluntary recognition payments.
Under this system, an independent commission grants funds to victims without requiring them to provide actual evidence of abuse.
There has been broad criticism that the amounts paid are inadequate, while in some instances higher six-figure sums were awarded in court.
However, many lawsuits have failed to proceed because the Church invoked the statute of limitations.
Victims’ groups argue this is particularly unjust because the Church itself has admitted to covering up crimes for many years.
(NAN)