Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) has criticized the Catholic Church for dealing with the abuse scandal. It “simply took far too long” for those responsible to react, he said at the opening of the spring plenary assembly of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) and criticized “sometimes too little empathy towards those affected”.
The church can only regain trust with transparent and decisive processing, said Söder. “The church has a unique position as a moral guarantor” – and that’s why we rightly judge it particularly harshly.
Even as a Protestant, he does not want to comment in detail on the reform efforts within the Catholic Church and the synodal path. However, he said that from his point of view “every love is blessed”. And “if you can bless motorway service stations, gondolas and hamsters,” then that should also apply to same-sex partnerships.
