German diocese transferred convicted priests to hospital chaplaincies

The priests were convicted of possessing child pornography and sexual abuse and, in some cases, were assigned to hospitals with children's wards

Stephan Ackermann (front in picture) is still the Abuse Commissioner of the German Bishops' Conference until September. He has been Bishop of Trier since 2009.

Under the leadership of Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier, several priests convicted of sexual offences were employed in hospital chaplaincy until a few years ago. A spokeswoman of the Diocese of Trier confirmed this on Wednesday in response to a question from the German Catholic News Agency (KNA), according to Kathpress, corresponding research by the "Zeit" supplement "Christ und Welt" (Thursday).

According to this, in some cases, it was a matter of clinics with children's wards, whereby those responsible had not always been informed about the past of the clergy. According to the newspaper, research has proven four cases in which priests were allowed to work in hospitals although they had been convicted of sexual abuse or possession of child pornography.

Convicted priests worked in hospitals for ten to 15 years

The interim report of an independent commission on sexualised violence and abuse and on how the Church deals with it will be presented in Trier on Thursday. The newspaper reports that the Commission did not want to disclose whether the researched cases are listed in the report. Ackermann is still the abuse commissioner of the German Bishops' Conference until September. He has been Bishop of Trier since 2009.

According to the newspaper report, two of the four cases involve priests from Saarland, where investigators had seized more than 100 child pornography image files in a raid in 2007. "A few months after their convictions for possession of child pornography in 2008 and 2009, the diocese placed them in clinics," it continued: "One lost the position in 2012 after the hospital learned of his conviction. The second retired in 2021 after ten years as a hospital chaplain."

Another priest, who had been sentenced to probation for sexual abuse in the mid-1990s, had also been assigned to clinics for 15 years, he said. A fourth priest convicted of abusing children in 1994 worked as a house chaplain in hospitals, according to the report. In 2012, he had turned himself in.

Work permit "if necessary under conditions"

Judith Rupp, spokesperson for the Trier diocese, said at the request of the KNA that she could confirm the research of "Christ und Welt". She added: "It is true that until some time ago it was possible for priests against whom there were accusations or convictions for possession of (child) pornography or in (suspected) cases of sexualised violence to be employed in hospital pastoral care under conditions."

However, this was only done after obtaining a forensic expert opinion with a corresponding declaration of no objection or recommendation and "if necessary, under conditions about which the environment was informed and compliance with which was monitored as far as possible," Rupp added: "In a few cases there was no or late information to the environment, we have acknowledged these mistakes."

There are no more deployments of this kind today. The new findings from the processing of cases of sexualised violence had led to "a change in the assessment of those responsible and a deployment is no longer considered possible". In this respect, there are no priests or deacons in the Diocese of Trier who are required to work in hospital chaplaincy. "Likewise, there are no priests or deacons in active service with conditions because of suspected cases of sexualised violence," said the spokesperson.

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