Sex-abuse claims rise in Germany

- AP
(adapted from the Philadelphia Inquirer)

Sex-abuse claims rise in Germany

Attorney Ursula Raue, appointed by the Jesuits, said that since seven alumni of the private Catholic Canisius Kolleg in Berlin reported abuses in January, the accusations had grown to "unbelievable proportions."

Raue said that victims identified 12 Jesuit priests by name and accused women in some cases. She also said rapes had been reported.

The sexual-abuse charges are the most widespread of any involving Catholic priests in Germany, homeland of Pope Benedict XVI. Most of the cases date back to the 1970s and 1980s, and some as far back as the 1950s.