‘One in three’ Regensburg choirboys abused

A lawyer has alleged that far more choirboys were abused in the Regensburg Diocese than stated in last year’s official figures, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

A diocesan report of February 2015 said that 72 boys were abused between 1953 and 1992. Ulrich Weber, an independent lawyer who was called in by the diocese in May 2015 to undertake further investigations, now claims that 231 members of the famous “Regensburger Domspatzen” were abused during that time.

Weber told the press on 8 January that he feared that it was “highly probable” that every third pupil was exposed to brutal beatings, withdrawal of fluids, forced feeding and sexual abuse “from fondling to rape”.

In 2010, Mgr Georg Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus Benedict’s elder brother, who was musical director of the choir from 1964 until 1994, was asked about the allegations. He recalled that corporal punishment was not banned in Germany until 1980. Asked on 10 January to comment further, Ratzinger, now 92, said he had no knowledge of any sexual abuse at the school.