30 years on. The Cardinal Groër scandal

The first of many, many cases, predating the Boston cases by some seven years.

The Viennese Cardinal Groër had to resign in 1995 after profil exposed him as an abuser. A dam break that shook the Catholic Church to the core.

In psychology, a trigger is defined as a situation in which traumatized people feel transported back to the emotional state of that time. The result: anger and fear.

Such a trigger was hidden in a short report in the March 6, 1995, issue of profil: profil reported at the time on a pastoral letter from the Archbishop of Vienna, Hans Hermann Groër, in which he quoted from Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians: "Do not be deceived! Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor prostitutes nor molesters of children will inherit the kingdom of God."

Boy molesters? For Josef Hartmann, then 37, this word evoked disturbing memories of his school days at the Archbishop's Hollabrunn boys' seminary. Hartmann had been a student of Groër and remembered his former religious education teacher as what the now cardinal railed against in his pastoral letter: a boy molester.

The Informant's Letter

Hartmann was so enraged by this bigotry that he was prepared to go to extremes: outing the perpetrator. In 1995, long before Facebook, X, and Instagram, he chose the traditional route. He wrote a letter addressed to the profil editorial staff, specifically to Josef Votzi, the magazine's editor-in-chief at the time.

The two arranged to meet at the pizzeria "L'asino che ride" on Vienna's Dorotheergasse. This meeting resulted in a cover headline printed on issue 13 of March 27, 1995, which would lead to Groer's resignation and profoundly shock the Catholic Church: "Former pupil accuses: 'Groer sexually abused me!'"

The profil editorial staff was aware of the explosive nature of the story; many Catholics could interpret the report as an attack on their church, Votzi wrote in the "Internal" section of the exposé. Ultimately, the editorial team decided to publish it because, "besides the cardinal's hypocrisy" and the victim's "credibility," the decisive factor was the fact that Hartmann "has still not come to terms with what his former religious education teacher Groer did to him."

The country's highest cleric, the Viennese Cardinal, had been exposed. Hartmann's descriptions were so detailed that it was impossible to escape them.

Groër lived at the boarding school in the 1960s and repeatedly summoned Hartmann. He lured the teenager into the shower stall of his apartment under the clumsy pretext of health care. Hartmann in profile: "He wanted to show me how to properly practice intimate hygiene. Then he soaped my entire body and, with a bright red face, cleaned my penis. He was visibly aroused. After that, I had to lie in bed with him and endure his French kisses."

This is how it supposedly went on until I graduated from high school: "Caressing, cuddling, and French kisses."

A taboo violation with consequences

Subsequently, other victims broke their silence. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church reacted slowly. The Pope accepted Groër's resignation, which he had submitted in 1994, originally for reasons of age. But just one year later, he was appointed prior of a monastery – accusations were again raised, this time by adult brothers.

The civilian population built pressure with the "Church People's Petition" (Kirchenvolksbegehren), and 500,000 people signed in 1995 calling for a "fundamental renewal of the Church of Jesus." One of the demands has not been implemented to this day: an end to celibacy.

Josef Hartmann received financial compensation of 40,000 euros from the Church in 2003 – on the condition that he no longer comment publicly on the case. He later said of it in Profil: "It was a pact with the devil. It was hush money. An immoral contract. The amount was a mockery compared to internationally accepted compensation amounts."

Even though there is a church institution, the Klasnic Commission (named after its head, the former Styrian governor Waltraud Klasnic), that can award compensation to victims of abuse, the Hartmann case has not been resolved to this day – at the time of its first publication in profil, Groër's actions were legally time-barred.

Whistleblower Hartmann died at the beginning of the year at the age of 67. Investigator Votzi simply titled his obituary: "The Courageous One.

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