Sex abuse scandal a ‘challenge’ for German society

CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel called the sex abuse scandal rocking the homeland of Pope Benedict XVI a major challenge to German society and warned the only way to come to terms with it was to “find out everything that has happened”.

Speaking out yesterday for the first time since allegations of abuse at a school linked to Berlin’s Roman Catholic Church initially surfaced in January, Merkel suggested compensation for victims and considering an extension on the current statute of limitations for filing claims against abusers.

Many of a wave of more than 300 allegations – more than half at Church-run schools – happened in the 1960s or 1970s and cannot be prosecuted.