German Catholic church agrees payout plan
The Catholic church in Germany has put forward a plan to compensate victims of sexual abuse by its priests, offering payments of up to €5,000 to those whose cases are too old to bring to court.
It announced the plan at a meeting of a government-appointed panel today set up to address compensation for victims of abuse in foster homes in Germany, both those run by the state and by the Catholic and Protestant churches.
Higher compensation would be awarded in "particularly serious cases", it said without setting out guidelines.
The German Church said it would also set up a €500,000 fund to prevent abuse inside and outside of the church and offer to compensate victims up to 50 hours of individual therapy.
The Catholic church has faced similar scandals in several other countries in Europe and in the United States.
In 2007, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $660 million to 500 victims of sexual abuse dating as far back as the 1940s, the largest compensation deal of its kind.
Pope Benedict met victims of abuse by priests during his April 2008 visit to the United States. The US church has paid $2 billion in settlements to victims since 1992.
A group representing abuse victims from schools run by the Jesuit order of priests called the German church's plan "presumptuous", but applauded it for putting an "idea" on the table.
"It's cheap how the world's richest church is trying to get itself out of the scandal," Square Table victims' group speaker Matthias Katsch told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper.
The offer falls short of the €5,000 lump sum the German Jesuits will pay their abuse victims.
The German Bishops' Conference called the plan a "quick and unbureaucratic solution", adding it "understood the rising impatience of abuse victims".
In December, victims' groups criticised the government panel and the German Catholic and Protestant churches for not offering compensation to abuse victims on par with other wealthy nations.
The panel proposed a €120 million fund for an estimated 30,000 victims of abuse in state- and church-run foster homes, and said the size of the fund could grow if more victims filed claims than expected.
Reuters
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