Catholic Church | Sexual violence: priests and private individuals?

You don't have to be a deep connoisseur of Catholic doctrine to know that the priesthood isn't a nine-to-five job. Catholics make a big deal about their clergy. They are ordained and considered holy men. They dedicate themselves entirely to serving the Church. That's why, for example, they aren't allowed to marry. It's hard to imagine a priest as a private citizen.

All the more surprising that it is the Catholic Church, or more precisely the Archdiocese of Cologne, that considers it important to make this distinction . In the case of Hans Bernhard U., who was convicted of 110 sexual offenses, the diocese draws a clear distinction. He is alleged to have raped Melanie F. "as a private individual." Melanie F. was the priest's foster daughter. For the unusual step of taking in foster children, U. needed the approval of the church leadership, and it received it. That any youth welfare office would have given U., who was not yet 30 at the time, a twelve-year-old girl as a foster child would have been unthinkable had he not been a priest.

Now, the morals of the church are not in a particularly good state. In lawsuits like Melanie F.'s, substantial amounts of damages are at stake, and to avoid paying them, the church twists its arguments. The fact that the Cologne Regional Court accepted these arguments is truly unrealistic, however. Hans Bernhard U. was able to have foster children because he was a priest. The church bears some responsibility for his ability to commit his crimes. The court should have recognized that.