Freiburg (dpa/lsw) – The publication of a report on how to deal with sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Freiburg, which was planned for the end of October, has been postponed. According to information from the Archbishop’s Ordinariate on Monday, the reason for this is further legal safeguards in data protection as well as personality and press rights. A spokesman said that the people named in the report who were accused should be given the opportunity to comment again.
The new date for publication is expected to be in the second half of April 2023. “The investigation into dealing with sexualized violence must be published and it will be published. The truth must be on the table, education has top priority,” said Archbishop Stephan Burger.
The report is prepared by the AG Aktenanalyse. In this, four external experts from the judiciary and criminal police evaluate the structures that had made cover-up and abuse possible in the past. The file analysis working group was set up in 2018 and started work in spring 2019.
Research on the basis of personal files after sexual abuse had previously brought shocking things to light: from the beginning of 1946 to the end of 2015, 190 suspects were discovered, most of them priests, and at least 442 victims.
