German Catholics urge pope to speak on sex scandals

The calls came amid widespread criticism in the media that the Bavarian-born pontiff made no statement after getting a briefing on the scandals at the Vatican Friday from the leader of the Church in Germany, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch.

In Bavaria, a convicted abuser priest whose transfer to Munich in 1980 while Pope Benedict was archbishop there threatened to draw the pontiff into the scandal, was suspended from his post in a spa town, the Munich archdiocese announced.

"The Holy Father needs to say something about this," Dirk Taenzler, head of the Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ), told the Berliner Zeitung daily.

"The Church needs to be more honest and stricter with itself, and that naturally includes the pope," Wolfgang Thierse, a vice president of the German parliament and member of the Central Committee of Catholics, told ARD television.

A Vatican prelate, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, said Benedict would soon speak with "his clear and decisive voice, without hiding anything" in an expected letter on similar scandals in Ireland, but gave no date or hint if it would mention Germany.

Fisichella, in an interview with the Milan daily Corriere della Sera, echoed Vatican attacks on the media for pursuing the scandals. "The rage against the pontiff is insane," he said.

TRANSFERRED PRIEST SUSPENDED

German media reports say more than 250 people were abused at Church-run schools in recent decades. "It's unfortunate that Pope Benedict did not offer any words of sympathy for the victims or seek reconciliation with them," the reformist lay movement We Are Church said.

The priest in the spa town of Bad Toelz was identified after a newspaper reported Friday that he had been moved from northern Germany to Munich in 1980 for therapy for paedophilia but was soon put to work with youths. He later molested a boy.