"High criminal energy and sophistication" of the modern Church

Abuse victim representative Katsch compares Catholic Church to Mafia

Matthias Katsch harshly attacks representatives of the Catholic Church after the publication of the latest abuse study. The report accuses former church representatives of serious failures. 

Matthias Katsch, spokesman for the abuse victims' initiative "Eckiger Tisch", compares the actions of the Catholic Church in Germany to organised crime in the current issue of the magazine "Der Spiegel". After the publication of the latest abuse study from the archdiocese of Freiburg, he spoke of a "week of truth" for the Catholic Church in Germany.

Herr Katsch is also a socialist politician.

He was the abuse victim of two Jesuits.

He criticised the serious omissions and the specific cover-up of abuses by former archbishops.

Katsch stresses that the bishops and their representatives are no longer trustworthy and calls on the German Bundestag to set up a commission of enquiry to search all the archives of the German dioceses and evaluate the documents. "Self-respect alone demands this," Katsch said in "Der Spiegel".

The "Working Group on Power Structures and File Analysis" published an almost 600-page report on 11 April, accusing former Archbishop Robert Zollitsch and his predecessor Oskar Saier of serious omissions and a deliberate cover-up of abuses. According to the report, files were hidden or destroyed in the diocese, reports of abuse were not made and victims and relatives played no role at all for those responsible in the church.

The way former Archbishop Robert Zollitsch apparently hoodwinked the public and politicians was an expression of "breathtaking impudence", Katsch explains in Der Spiegel.

Katsch draws parallels between the actions of the Catholic Church and the organised crime of the Mafia, where "with obviously high criminal energy and sophistication, sometimes across borders, a powerful institution systematically protects offenders and apparently deliberately deceives the judiciary". The Nishops and their representatives can no longer be trusted.

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