Report On Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Finds Hundreds Of Cases In Germany

The long-awaited 800-page report on the Cologne diocese found 202 alleged perpetrators of sexual assault and 314 victims between 1975 and 2018, the attorney mandated by the Church, Bjoern Gercke, said.

An independent study commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church uncovered hundreds of cases of sexual violence allegedly committed by clergy and laymen in Germany's top diocese, its authors said Thursday. The long-awaited 800-page report on the Cologne diocese found 202 alleged perpetrators of sexual assault and 314 victims between 1975 and 2018, the attorney mandated by the Church, Bjoern Gercke, told reporters. "More than half of the victims were children under the age of 14," Gercke said. However the investigation cleared Cologne's Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki, a conservative who has long resisted Church reform efforts, of "breach of duty" regarding abuse within the Church.