Gross dereliction of duty and systematic breaches of canon law by former Head of German Bishops

Abuse in the Archdiocese of Freiburg

Report incriminates former Archbishop Zollitsch - more involved than previously assumed.

He was known as a crisis manager- he was the crisis personifed.

Four years of preparation, 24 exemplary cases: A Commission of inquiry has presented its report on sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Freiburg. In it, accusations are made against Robert Zollitsch.

In the Archdiocese of Freiburg, more people have been affected by sexual abuse by clergy than officially known so far. It is now assumed that there are more than 540 victims, said Magnus Striet, chairman of the commission, in Freiburg. There are also more than 250 accused clerics. The theologian Striet's comments were prompted by the presentation of the report on sexual abuse in the archdiocese.

Research on the basis of personnel files after sexual abuse had already revealed shocking facts: From the beginning of 1946 to the end of 2015, 190 accused persons were discovered, most of them priests, as well as at least 442 victims, according to earlier figures.

External experts from the judiciary and criminal investigation department

The report of an independent working group is to show how cover-ups and abuse were possible in the archdiocese. For this purpose, 24 cases of abuse are presented as examples. The so-called AG Aktenanalyse with four external experts from the judiciary and criminal police has been working since 2019.

There are high expectations for the report, which is coming about half a year later than originally planned due to legal safeguards. There are many victims with feelings of guilt and shame, said Sabine Vollmer, chairperson of the victims' advisory board, recently. "I hope that with the publication of the abuse report they will overcome these feelings and come forward." The board works independently of the archdiocese and is meant to be a point of contact for those affected.

With around 1.8 million Catholics, the archdiocese is one of the largest of the 27 dioceses in Germany. Similar studies have already been conducted in other dioceses, such as Cologne and Munich. In Rottenburg-Stuttgart, in contrast to other dioceses, Bishop Gebhard Fürst had already convened an independent "sexual abuse commission" a good 20 years ago.

In Freiburg, special attention is likely to be paid to Archbishop Stephan Burger's predecessor in office, Robert Zollitsch. The former president of the Catholic German Bishops' Conference had already admitted serious mistakes and personal guilt in an unusual video in October. The 84-year-old now announced through a spokesman that he had imposed silence on himself and would not comment on the report on Tuesday.

"We were speechless"

Zollitsch is incriminated in the report. During his time in office, for example, he had completely ignored canon law - i.e. church law - in connection with abuse cases, said Eugen Endress, one of the authors of the report. He cited as an example that a violation of celibacy by a clergyman was punished, while abuse of children and young people had not been punished under canon law. "We were speechless."

Zollitsch had led the Freiburg archdiocese from 2003 to 2013. From February 2008 to March 2014, he was President of the German Bishops' Conference. From 1983, Zollitsch had been personnel officer in the Archbishop's ordinariate for two decades.

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