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Germany

German Church Study Says Sex Abuser Priests Rarely Pedophiles

DIE WELT (Germany)

Worldcrunch

BERLIN - A forensic analysis of the psychiatric and psychological profiles of 78 German Catholic priests accused of child abuse between 2000 and 2010 shows that only nine were pedophiles. Four showed homosexual tendencies towards adolescent boys. Of the remaining 65, 54% were heterosexuals, 37% were homosexual, and nine were bisexual.

Bishop Stephan Ackermann told Die Welt that it was hoped the study, which was mandated by the Catholic Church, would help the Church to better understand and deal with priests accused of child abuse, and that it would constitute a further step towards transparency.

Norbert Denef, the founder and head of netzwerkB, a German network for victims of “sexualized violence,” called for an independent commission to investigate the sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church. This was the only way to ensure justice for victims, he said. "You wouldn’t ask the Mafia to investigate their own crimes,” he said.

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Catholic priest, Germany. Photo Yaisog Bonegnasher

Reporting abuse to authorities should be mandatory, and there should be no statute of limitations in child abuse cases because it sometimes took decades for victims to come to terms with the events and speak out, Denef said.

Denef called the Church’s offer to pay every victim 5,000 euros of reparation money “a cheap way of buying itself out of taking responsibility.” Denef, himself abused by a parish priest as a child, says he wants a general “clear admission of guilt” from the Church, which he says is banking on limited public interest in the topic and playing for time before the subject dies down, and is not genuinely invested in dealing with the issue.

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Geopolitics

Why The World Still Needs U.S. Leadership — With An Assist From China

Twenty years of costly interventions and China's economic ascent have robbed the United States of its global supremacy. It is time for the two biggest powers to work together, to help the world.

Photograph of Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden walking side by side in the Filoli Estate in the U.S. state of California​

Nov. 15, 2023: Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden take a walk after their talks in the Filoli Estate in the U.S. state of California

Xinhua/ZUMA
María Ángela Holguín*

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — The United States is facing a complex moment in its history, as it loses its privileged place in the world. Since the Second World War, it has been the world's preeminent power in economic and political terms, helping rebuild Europe after the war and through its growing economy, aiding the development of a significant part of the world.

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Its model of democracy, long considered exemplary around the world, has gone through a rough patch, thanks to excessive polarization and discord. This has cost it a good deal of its leadership, unity and authority.

How much authority does it have to chide certain countries on democracy, as it does, after such outlandish incidents as the assault on Congress in January 2021? The fights we have seen over electing a new speaker of the House of Representatives or backing the administration's foreign policy are simply incredible.

In Ukraine's case, President Biden failed to win support for the aid package for which he was hoping, even if there is a general understanding that if Russia wins this war, Europe's stability would be at risk. It would mean the victory of a longstanding enemy.

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