The interim results of the independent historical study funded by the Archdiocese of Paderborn, which has been conducted by researchers at Paderborn University since the beginning of 2020, have already caused outrage: the Church and society systematically looked the other way in cases of abuse and in several cases even condoned the offences. Accused clerics were rarely sanctioned. Compassion for those affected? Often not the case. For their five-year study, Prof Dr Nicole Priesching and Dr Christine Hartig sifted through extensive material and conducted interviews with contemporary witnesses and those affected, thus shedding light on a dark chapter of the Catholic Church. The study focusses on the period from 1941 to 2002 and thus the terms of office of Cardinals Lorenz Jaeger and Johannes Joachim Degenhardt. Since 2023, a second research project led by Prof Priesching has also been investigating the term of office of Archbishop Hans-Josef Becker, which ran from 2002 to 2022. As the two researchers have now announced, it is taking longer than initially assumed to sift through and process the material. On the one hand, this is due to the restrictions imposed at the time by the coronavirus pandemic with regard to access to archives and contacting contemporary witnesses. Secondly, there are significantly more sources than expected. "However, this also enables us to consider the actions of the Paderborn management staff and the situation of those affected against the backdrop of developments in society as a whole, which is also relevant across the diocese," says Priesching. Necessary legal examinations also lead to delays. The results on the Jaeger and Degenhardt terms of office will be presented to the public in spring 2026 according to the current status.
Information on the results of the research project to date can be found on the project website.
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