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German Catholic bishops release new sex abuse guidelines

Officials and employees of Germany's Roman Catholic Church will be required to immediately report suspicions of child abuse to the police under new guidelines that went into effect on 1 September, the German Bishops Conference announced, reports Ecumenical News International.

The new guidelines are in response to a wave of scandal that washed over the church in the winter, as dozens of decades-old accusations of physical and sexual abuse of children came to light, Religion News Service reports.

"The horrible revelations and experiences of the recent months have shown us that our guidelines of 2002 were not precise enough in all points," said Trier Bishop Stephan Ackermann, who was appointed by the conference to lead a team creating the new guidelines.

The previous guidelines had only required officials to report suspected abuse "as soon as possible". The new guidelines allow officials to not report cases to authorities if the abused child, or the parents, requests that no report be filed.

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TAGS: Germany Roman Catholic Church child abuse new sex abuse guidelines Stephan Ackermann

[09/03/2010]

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