Religious institution - Additional victims allege that a former bishop engaged in severe misconduct.
There have been three additional accusers who claim the late Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen of Hildesheim, Germany, committed grave sexual misconduct. These accusers were 8 to 12 years old when the alleged incidents occurred, as per the diocese. Janssen, who passed away in 1988, is the very first bishop in Germany to face sexual abuse allegations.
The fresh alleged offenses are reported to have transpired over numerous years, both within and outside the Hildesheim diocese, though the diocese withheld more specific details, citing the necessity to protect the victims. The accusers reached out to independent experts and experts for potential instances of sexual violence within the diocese. Based on the majority independently staffed Bishop's Advisory Board on Sexual Violence of the Hildesheim Diocese, these accusations seem credible.
Hildesheim's Bishop, Heiner Wilmer, expressed shock and disbelief. "My thoughts are with the ones who've been affected by these crimes," he said, and stressed that he'd immediately reached out to his advisors. Auxiliary Bishop Heinz-Günter Bongartz mentioned the possibility of reburying Janssen's remains from his grave within the Hildesheim Cathedral. A list containing details on the accusations against Janssen has already been placed in front of his now-closed grave.
Since the first accusations of sexual abuse against Janssen by two people in 2015 and 2018, an initial survey did not discover any other crimes committed by the bishop. The diocese arranged for a further study probing the existence of sexual violence between 1945 and 2024 in March. The three new cases must be incorporated into this research if the involved individuals consent.
This marks the third such study, the diocese disclosed in March. "There have long been cases of sexual assault within the Hildesheim Diocese that are indisputably criminal," said Wilmer at the announcement of the new investigation. The Hildesheim Diocese oversees significant portions of Lower Saxony and Bremen. Their stated figure of Catholics and Catholic women living there totals roughly 538,000.
