School

Such experiences are part of everyday life for many Indian children: a large-scale study by the Ministry of Women's Affairs concluded in 2007 that 53 percent of Indian children had been sexually abused once or several times. The then minister Renuka Chowdhury spoke of a "conspiracy of silence". "In India, there is a tradition of simply dismissing child abuse," she said. "There's nothing like that here," they usually say."The vast majority of the perpetrators are fathers, other family members or other custodians. That may be why only 17 percent of the young people surveyed favored harsh punishment for the offense. Child rights activists repeatedly complain that the real challenge is encouraging boys and girls to report abuses.One-fifth of the world's children live in India. More than a third of the subcontinent's 1.1 billion inhabitants are under 18 years of age. A large portion lives in hunger and need, reliant on aid.Abuse by aid workers also rarely makes the headlines. A few years ago, the case of two pedophile Britons who set up a children's home for street boys in Mumbai (Bombay) with foreign donations, and sexually exploited the inmates there for years, caused a stir. The two men were later sentenced by an Indian court to a long prison term.

The former principal of Bonn's Aloisius College, who was under investigation by the public prosecutor's office for abusing students, has died at the age of 82. This means that the Jesuit priest, who had been living on site in a retirement home since the beginning of 2009, can no longer be held to account.

Against the man, accused of the abuse in altogether approximately 30 cases, the Bonn public prosecutor's office investigated in the past months because of 13 possible assault cases not yet barred by the statute of limitations.The 82-year-old, who had mainly held management positions at the Bonn school since the 1960s, had been accused by a good two dozen victims over the course of four decades of abusive behavior towards charges. At the end of February, a boarding student still studying at the college also came forward for the first time as a victim of assault to the college and then to the police. Still 2005 the man is to have tried to soap the boy in the boarding school shower against his will. It was not until the end of 2008 that the priest left the school grounds for reasons of age.

Keupp is also skeptical about the new contract awarded in February to the Munich law firm "Westpfahl, Spilker, Wastl", which is to prepare an extended expert opinion on cases of sexual abuse and physical violence in the archdiocese, building on the 2010 report, as he said in response to a question from the Catholic News Agency (KNA) on Thursday. It would be a progress only if all results were put on the table.

The abuse cases in the church area have apparently not yet had any effect on the registration figures at Catholic schools in Germany. This also applies to the institutions of the Jesuit Order, according to a recent survey.

The Canisius College in Berlin, whose rector Klaus Mertes first made the scandal public in mid-January, has 300 applications for 90 places for the coming school year. According to principal Bernd Wibmann, the number of students registered at the Aloisiuskolleg in Bonn was the same as in previous years. There are 240 applications for the 90 places to be allocated. A similar picture can also be seen in other institutions and regions. "Confidence in church schools is unbroken," says Dietfried Scherer, head of the diocesan school foundation in the archdiocese of Freiburg. Parents know very well how to distinguish between the abuses of the past and the current situation at the schools, emphasized Scherer, whose foundation runs 26 schools with around 13.500 pupils represented. According to him, in the selection procedures that have just been completed, around 1.700 places allocated for new fifth graders. About every third applicant had to be turned down.

Stricter security on New Year's Eve around Cologne Cathedral © Oliver Berg

Around the Cologne Cathedral may not be brought pyrotechnics, as the city announced on Tuesday. Police and public order office want to significantly increase their presence in downtown Cologne on New Year's Eve, and video surveillance and lighting are also to be stepped up. At the turn of the year 2015/2016, there had been mass sexual assaults and thefts in Cologne.

Philipp Amthor (CDU) in the Bundestag © Michael Kappeler

His speech in the Bundestag last year, in which he took apart an AfD motion to ban full-face veils, brought him sudden fame: The motion bristled with false claims and was unconstitutional, the youngest member of the Union parliamentary group, Philipp Amthor – himself a lawyer – confidently declared at the time.

For years he was one of the most striking personalities of German Catholicism: Archbishop Johannes Dyba of Fulda, who died ten years ago today. With his positions on homosexuality and abortion, he did not only make friends – a popular head pastor he was nevertheless – or just because of it.

The huge space of the church was filled to the brim; even outside on the cathedral square, thousands were still crowding in. Ten years ago, many of the mourners furtively wiped a tear from their eyes when the sarcophagus of Fulda Archbishop John Dyba was laid to rest in the St. John's Chapel of the cathedral. Church, state and Vatican diplomacy took leave of one of the most striking personalities of German Catholicism. At the news of the completely unexpected cardiac death of the Chief Shepherd on 23. July 2000, even many who had been critical of the conservative felt that with the 70-year-old an important voice of German Catholicism had fallen silent.

Jewish students © Daniel Bockwoldt

This is the conclusion of a survey of 27 teachers at 21 Berlin schools published by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) in Berlin on Wednesday. Anti-Semitic tendencies are thus intensifying in schoolyards, while at the same time strictly religious aspects of Islam are taking on an ever greater role.

The former priest had himself asked to be reassigned to the lay state. Under strict conditions, however, he may remain a member of the order. He remains banned from contact with children and young people. He may leave the monastery only after consultation with the leadership of the order; he may no longer receive visitors in his room. In the event of a violation of these guidelines, the 71-year-old would also be dismissed from the order, the provincial leadership continued. This agreement, he said, is regularly reviewed by someone outside the order. At the end of August 2008, a former pupil of the boarding school had turned to the diocese of Wurzburg with the allegations of abuse. After that, the Order initiated a preliminary investigation in accordance with the guidelines of the German Bishops' Conference. According to the report, there were at least 16 victims at the now-closed boarding school. He said the students had been sexually or otherwise abused to varying degrees of severity. This is what the perpetrator had confessed to. The victims had been informed about the result of the investigation. The order stressed that it continues to support the victims' families in coming to terms with the deeds.

The late Auxiliary Bishop Engelbert Siebler with Pope Benedict in 2006 © KNA

Siebler was director of the Saint Michael Seminary in Traunstein from 1976 to 1985. During this time the acts are said to have occurred.

Siebler is the highest-ranking Catholic clergyman in Bavaria against whom an alleged victim has made such an accusation. The archdiocese of Munich and Freising is responsible for the Traunstein boarding school. Since 1939, it has also been attended by Joseph Ratzinger, later Archbishop of Munich and Pope.