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Cardinal Marx Finally Admits His Own Negligences in Abuse Cases

Cardinal Reinhard Marx – a close collaborator of Pope Francis and a member of the Council of Nine – is coming now increasingly under pressure for his alleged negligence with regard to past abuse cases which took place in his own Diocese of Trier at the time.

On 3 May, the German newspaper Die Zeit reported on some new information that is coming to light and that shows that Marx, who was Bishop of Trier from 2002 to 2008, did not take the necessary steps as the bishop when one of his priests – Otmar M. – was under state investigation for his conduct in a past sexual abuse case involving a minor. As Die Zeit already had said, in August of 2016:

Since May [2016], the priest Otmar M., from the Saarland region, has been forbidden to have any contact with children and youth. The Diocese of Trier has filed a charge against him, now the state prosecutor is investigating the charges against the 64-year-old man. He is being accused of abuse – for the fourth time since 2006. And since last week it is clear that Cardinal Reinhard Marx – the President of the German Bishops’ Conference and the current Archbishop of Munich-Freising – knew at the time of the charges but did not start an investigation of the case. [emphasis added]

In August of 2016, when the debate had started about Cardinal Marx’ role and responsibility, the German Bishops’ website Katholisch.de discussed the matter, as well; and had said, in my summarizing words, the following:

Katholisch.de says that Cardinal Marx did not follow up on this abuse case which was declared to be time-barred (past the statute of limitations) in the eyes of the state. Thus, even though Marx knew of the case and of the fact that there was a problem at hand, he did not pursue it in a way that would fulfill his moral duty as bishop and guardian of his flock. A press spokesman for Marx says that, at that time, Marx followed the Church’s guidelines with regard to abuse cases. However, he did not even request to see the files of the state’s court at the time in order to obtain a full picture of the documented misdeeds of the abusive priest. [emphasis added]

Thus, Cardinal Marx did not take any reasonable and just steps for stopping this priest’s immoral behavior. Importantly, he did not even seek to get in contact with the victim (Michael W.) himself! Yet, Marx still claimed, in 2016, that he himself had nonetheless acted according to the Church’s own guidelines at the time.

As the August 2016 Zeit article points out, however, even if the abuse case was time-barred due to the state’s laws, this does not mean that Cardinal Marx – even according to the then-binding Church laws – did not still have a duty to take action against the abusive priest:

This is not fully correct [that Marx had acted according to Church regulations]: Already in the 2002 rules, it was written: “Immediately after hearing about a suspicion or about a violation, the commissioner starts the investigation.” The suspicion existed, even if the case was held to be time-barred in the eyes of [secular] state institutions. In any case, abuse does not become time-barred in and according to Church Law. [emphasis added]

(Die Zeit now, in May of 2017, also points out that the 2002 Church regulations stated that the Church immediately has to take steps to hear the victims themselves. This specific act had not taken place, either.)

The putative negligence which, under the increasing pressure, Cardinal Marx now seems to have gradually come around to acknowledge, gets even weightier and more culpable when considering the new information just provided in the 3 May 2017 article by Die Zeit. For, since 2006, the priest Otmar M. seems now to have been formally accused in front of the state prosecutor seven times (in two of these cases by the Diocese of Trier itself)! Among the accusations are the charges of “illegal ownership of weapons up to severe sexual abuse of a pupil of an elementary class.” All of these investigations have now been dropped, however, due to time limitations; or due to the prosecutor’s own prudential judgment that the initial suspicions were not severe enough; or that the case would not be realistically judged against the accused priest. Within the Church, however, the case is still under some investigation.

The initial 2006 legal investigation, however, which found that the case was time-barred, nevertheless showed that the suspicion for an abuse was well-grounded. That should have been enough for Cardinal Marx. According to Die Zeit – whose reporters made intense and protracted investigations themselves, and have also had access to some of the legal files – even the accused priest’s own lawyer admitted that, according to the legal files, Father Otmar M. did not deny the allegations made by the victim Michael W. and that he (Otmar M.) was aware that he had committed an immoral deed. In 2015, the Diocese of Trier sent Father Otmar M. prematurely into retirement, but without any reference to the abuse allegations. Only in December of 2016, has the Diocese of Trier – now under Bishop Stephan Ackermann – finally gotten around to contact the victim Michael W. himself.

Now, after more than a half a year of public discussion about Cardinal Marx’ own role and responsibility in this matter, the German prelate finally also came around making a more direct comment to Die Zeit – up to now, moreover, he had only spoken to the media through his official spokesmen about this case. Even though he still does not comment specifically on the concrete case of Otmar M, Cardinal Marx – with tepid empathy – now says, according to Die Zeit:

“For me personally, I would like to explicitly state that I today – and unfortunately only in retrospect – recognize that I should have inquired more intensively.” The Church – to include himself – was too little willing to realize what priests also can do to young people, and the Church’s conduct was not always appropriate with respect to the painful situations of the victims. “For the Church and also for me myself, this was a painful process of learning, to think and to act especially and in everything from the viewpoint of the victims.” [emphasis added]

Is it not time to consider whether it is still appropriate that such a man as Cardinal Reinhard Marx should be the President of the German Bishops’ Conference, and even a member of the Pope’s own Council of Nine?

87 thoughts on “Cardinal Marx Finally Admits His Own Negligences in Abuse Cases”

  1. More solid proof that modernists approve of sin and try to avoid anyone getting caught. Just the kind of man that Francis approves of!

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    • No. Bishop Finn’s problem was he wasn’t of the progressive persuasion. Marx, as his surname hints, most certainly is.

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      • Bishop Finn was and is such a good and holy bishop. I was very saddened how the corrupt members of the Church went after him with a gusto. His resignation was an act of great courage and humility for he did not want to harm the Church.
        I am glad to see that he is under the a good roof now and serving our Lord in a different capacity.
        God love him.

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  2. I’m going to take great deep breath and hold it until Cardinal Marx is punished in a decent and appropriate way. Well, it was nice knowing ya’ll.

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  3. Francis is Just as Negligent in his failure to act in Buenos Aires School for Deaf-handicapped children. Two priests and a nun in jail for abuse of 80 children. In case you wonder why Francis is reluctant to return to Argentina. Too many disturbing questions of why he Repeatedly ignored numerous warning that this abuse was widespread. Bergoglio was in charge and did NOTHING for Yrs. No action taken until he left for Rome. Then newly elected Conservative gov. arrested and prosecuted the clerical perpetrators………………….. R Marx like others Daneels, De Kessel, Bonney of Belgium Two bishops in Chile one in Honduras PROMOTED after being implicated in coverup or actual Homosexual abuse of Post puberty youngsters by Francis.. That Francis continues to promote them and Radcliffe, Martin of Amer. Magazine and Paglia etc. is a Stain on the faith. His undermining of Knights of Malta and CDF priests and AB Sarah for removing wayward Prelates is a Scandal on the faith and Francis dysfunctional papacy to be sure.

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  4. No surprise to learn this about the pro-sodomite devil Marx. After all, didn’t he say himself that sodomite unions “have value”?

    Reply
    • “Beware the Hun in the Sun.” A very important advisory for RAF fighter pilots during the Battle of Britain, flying the early variant of the Spitfire which were decidedly underpowered at altitude compared to the contemporary German equivalent, the formidable Messerschmitt Bf 109 E4 escort fighter.

      However, by 1942, the Spitfire was ‘up-engined’ (re-powered) with the RR Merlin 60 Series engine and in 1943, up-engined with the RR Griffon 65 – almost double the power of the early variants and 45% more torque. In the words of my late friend Keith J. MacDonald, (who finished the war as Squadron Leader) of RAF (NZ) 485 Squadron: “With the Spitfire having come of age, the Hun were no longer a problem – the hunter were now the hunted.”

      So it is, that the Church is going to come of age. It is to be ‘up-engined’ – literally – by Our Mother Mary and her Spouse The Holy Spirit. The enemies of the Church who have denigrated the Traditional Latin Mass and who have degraded and discounted the Ten Commandments, The Sacraments and the Church’s De Fide Doctrines and Dogma will be decidedly overpowered and outmanoeuvred.

      satan will be sent packing – and the little children who have suffered abuse of all kinds are going to find a home in the beautiful gardens of The Mother of The Christ. God does love everybody – but He does have a very special place in His heart for the children.

      Reply
        • We’re in for a fight with them – of that there’s no doubt. Time to stick very close to Our Lord, Our Mother Mary, the Sacraments, Catholic Teaching and Tradition – and recite the Rosary and pray to St Michael for protection frequently and without fail. While Bergoglio and his crew prepare the way for their pagan king, we by contrast, will be fighting for Jesus Christ, The King of Kings and His One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

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      • Cardinal Marx, you and you abuser priest are directly aimed at by Matthew 18:6.
        Yet, I have doubts about the abuser: He abused boys, that’s for sure, but possibly he never desecrated the Holy Eucharist, like you and your fellow german bishops are happily doing.

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        • The fact that he offered Mass with his soul in the state in which we can reasonably surmise it to have been makes it highly unlikely he never committed the sin of sacrilege

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  5. I’ll be far more satisfied when I read the headline “Cardinal Marx Finally Admits His Own Negligences in Teaching the Faith.”

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  6. The only thing worse than this abuse scandal would be open Satanic worship by the Church. Over the past 7 yrs I have read so many depositions, Grand Jury testimony, court transcripts, supporting documents, that I firmly believe that this priesthood is totally corrupt with numerous grave instances of out right EVIL. This does not mean that all priests have committed such gravely sinful actions, but let’s look at the culture that not only enabled, but directly prevented those who spoke up. In some cases committed grave sins to silence people. I cannot understand, though I have heard all the possible causes, how can you say you love God, preach and know by heart who God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit is and not in a moment of weakness, close ones soul, deafen ones ears to the cries and suffering they are causing, and not care. Then to do it again and again, and again, like a serial killer. I will NEVER understand!

    It would be a minuscule consolation if this was the past, but it is not. It is still happening and the Church DOES NOT CARE TO STOP IT. Francis can talk about all the pretty flowers, the environment, immigrants, etc. He can admonish the world and what it does even to the point of chastising people for even the most innocuous things, but when is he going to put the fear of God into these priests, when is he going to put this evil under his foot and crush it, destroy it? When is he going to do the righteous action, like Jesus cleansing the Temple, and do the same? I would think they ALL would be so outraged, so disgusted, so ashamed, that ending this would be job #1.

    Even today, there is a vile, heinous, evil revelation about priests and a nun in Argentina that makes me so sickened, sickened in the heart, in the soul, viscerally, emotionally, mentally to hear.

    I distinctly remember, about 4 yrs ago, reading court documents about what happened to an 8yr old boy I believe was from Poland. What he went through, before during and after the abuse, and ultimately killed himself at 10 made me invoke God Almighty to which I cried out “only You can stop this”. WHEN OH LORD ARE YOU GOING TO END THIS EVIL! BECAUSE YOUR CHURCH, YOUR HOLY MEN, YOUR VOICE ON THIS EARTH WILL NOT!

    Reply
    • I have shared these same thoughts as you.

      The Church has lost her Divine way on “earth”. Instead of the earthly Church being concerned for souls, and governing to defend the faith, maintain her purity, she is being tossed about many drunkards, and wayward religious of all rank.

      The issues with Marx, is an issue that has been going on under many Bishops of Rome, not just this one.
      Not, that one should be resigned to it. But, as you rightfully pointed out, this issue of homosexuality and child abuse in the priesthood is the root of the evil in our Church, in my opinion. Once the Liturgy became ” cheapened”, all bets were off as how Satan would enter and how. Now, we KNOW.

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      • “this issue of homosexuality and child abuse in the priesthood is the root of the evil in our Church, in my opinion.”

        I agree.

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    • I understand your frustration. My vocation was wrecked by the Modernists in 1986. They didn’t want young men who believed in The Christ – they wanted poofters who were prepared to publicly doubt everything that Jesus had said and done. When I gave of my account of what was going on – in public – no one but my family believed me. Everyone else stayed silent. In my frustration I turned back to what I was very good at – tuning high performance engines and driving race cars on the track – and ‘elsewhere’. I thank my Mother Mary every day for bringing me back home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQNSyjbIEeo

      Reply
    • Bergoglio will do nothing to stop the abuse because he is himself being accused of covering up for abusers. They know too much about him for him to get in their way.

      Reply
  7. We wymmin at the St. Martina Luther Feminist Institute for Advanced Ecumenical Heresy salute Cardinal Marx, despite the fact that as a man he is part of the patriarchal system of repression of wymmin of either sex or of none, for his work with the LGBLT (Lesbian, Gay, Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato) community. His work in this field explains why he did not want to take action against a gay priest who was only acting out his gene-determined lifestyle which we wymmin at the Institute know all about I can tell you, especially after the massage therapy sessions with Essence of Jasmine oil!

    There is only one question to ask Cardinal Marx. “Your Eminence, do you ecumenate?” As the answer is obviously in the affirmative, we have invited him to our next ecumaniacal gathering in the graveyard of St. _____ Church in the village of ______ on the next full moon. I do hope he remembers to bring his “Satan” (pat pending) anti-ectoplasm wet-suit as the spirits are sure to be in attendance!

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  8. To condone evil is to participate in it. Bergolio knows all about these men. He doesn’t care, as long as they support his heretical agenda. When he appeared with the evil Cardinal Danieels on the balcony after his election, I feared a problem.

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  9. Marx, with his neat, immaculately trimmed, George Michael beard and constant shilling for the lavender agenda, has always sent my Gaydar into red alert.

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    • What’s wrong with a neat, trimmed beard? I don’t have one, but my wife insists I would look better with one.

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    • Let’s not forget Pell who was suposed to be a voice of orthodox clarity. He too has changed his tune and now sits there with Marx and the rest.

      But then pell had his “day in court” over abuse, too…..

      Is there NO holy prelate left?

      Reply
      • What I found most bizarre was Bergoglio lining them all up to pledge their allegiance to him. It’s the sort of thing one associates with 1940’s Berlin, or Pyongyang, though I don’t think Francis would go as far as ‘disciplining’ dissenters with an anti-aircraft gun.

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          • Or the Venezuela of Chavez and Maduro, or the Cuba of the Castro’s ……. etc. the list goes on And Francis loves ’em all. But according to Sandro Magister, Bergoglio is now equated with Pontius Pilate in Caracas as Maduro’s thugs step up their violent assault against the Church. The Venezuelan bishops courageously confront the authorities, and Francis just impotently wrings his hands. I pray the the most holy Mother of God will obtain from the Blessed Trinity a miraculous transformation during his visit to the Shrine of Fatima.

  10. The abuses of underage boys by a priest are already despicable, awful, unthinkable and like unremovable stains on our Holy Mother the Church.
    But the abuse of the Holy Eucharist given to remarried/divorced people, as it is now promoted by the german bishops Conference with the benediction of the Pope is a far worse sacrilege.

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    • If the abusing priests offered Mass with that sin on their souls, which they likely did, objectively they committed the sin of sacrilege and somehow I think THAT sacrilege, because of the reason behind it, is more grave.

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  11. But, this is nothing new under the sun! A blind eye has been turned on these diabolical deeds for over 60 years.
    The abuse by clergy has been known to many before this pope,, a cardinal, bishops and fellow priests.
    How many of them knew, and looked away? How many hunkered down in their respective positions, ” hiding their little precious lights of piety”, while such things were going on around them?

    Does one not wonder, why it is, that so many prelates have been silent over these heresies of today?
    Their own stain of sin, in their complicity to “look the other way”, condemns them.
    Their priesthood came before the innocent children. The bishops status came before the children,and the Vatican’s horrific obsession with “appearances” came before the innocent children.

    Reply
    • Right on.

      Much is made about the “post-V2” aspect of the abuse scandals, but many of the monsters were ordained before V2.

      I also think the reason for the silence is the prevalence of sodomy among the prelates. No other explanation seems logical to me but blackmail or the fear thereof.

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  12. I pray daily as one of the intentions of my daily Rosary that all the enemies of the Church within and without should be made inactive in the Church and in the world and that their place especially from within the Church should be taken by those prelates who will bring about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Church. Hope at last Cardinal Marx would be asked by the Pope to resign on moral grounds. Then this prayer would be answered.

    Reply
  13. The sooner we get a new Pope the better,Francis has appointed some very very horrible Bishops,Cupich for one,an every time a good Bishop retires we get a Liberal tree hugger for the new Bishop,it seems like Francis is trying to destroy the faith,Francis is horrible I can’t say on this web site what I really think of Francis an his henchman because I know Jesus has a plan to bring Francis’s time as Pope into something good,every time we have a very bad pope like Francis we get a Very Holy Pope,so lets hope we get a Holy Pope like NOW!!!

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  14. Rod says below, “I also think the reason for the silence is the prevalence of sodomy among the prelates.”

    All 1P5ers should read – they are all available online – the letters to American Bishops by the founder of the Servants of the Paraclete, Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald. This Order had as its main work the rehabilitation of priests with problems. Most priests they saw were alcoholics or had got a lady in the parish pregnant. Then from the early to middle 1950s, the child molesters, also known as “homosexuals”, started appearing. They were unknown before that. His letters become more and more strident and in the early 1960s he even saw Pope Paul VI in audience about the problem. I believe Canon Law was changed as a result, and it was those changes to Canon Law that all the Cardinals and Bishops then ignored so that a Catholic priest, a priest of Jesus Christ in the line of Melchisadek, is now seen by much of the the world as a paedophile and little more. These Cardinals and Bishops were so derelict in their duty that they ignored the very law they exist to uphold.

    Father Fitzgerald in the 1960s was ousted as General of the Servants of the Paraclete, the religious order he had founded, because the Order decided that these homosexual priests, whom Fr. Fitzgerald describes in one anguished letter as “devils”, should be seen by a “counsellor” whereas Fr. Fitzgerald had wanted them thrown out of the priesthood and / or banished to an island in the Caribbean which he had asked the Vatican to buy.

    Reply
    • Very interesting.

      I found St Peter Damian’s “Book of Gomorrah”, written circa 1065 AD to be very interesting, one of the reasons being that this epidemic of sodomy has occured in the past. Personally, I believe it has always existed to some degree, just as all sins do among priests.

      The answer is swift and severe punishment, not dialogue.

      Pope St Pius V suggested turning them over the civil authorites which in those days meant possible death.

      I have been shocked not at the existence of abuse {Billy Graham’s grandson Boz Tchividjian has stated that abuse is worse among Protestants than Catholics…} but rather at the obvious and almost total lack of rage over it among Catholic prelates.

      Gee…I wonder why…

      Reply
      • All covering for each other, aren’t they? The letters of Fr. Fitzgerald are a must read. Easily found with a google search.

        Bergoglio mocks Catholic couples who have worked hard all their married lives to stay true to the teaching of the Church, and he mocks the poor victims of these demons with the patronage shown to Daneels, Ricca, the Bishop in Chile and all his tranny visitors. I believe one of his personality traits is a conscious desire to shock.

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        • Thanks for that info. Yes, very interesting stuff.

          We have got to get back into the business of condemning sin as sin and doing something about it. Alas, with this topic, I believe we might have to wait until the whole generation of leadership is gone.

          Reply
        • Thank you for supplying this document.

          “I believe one of his personality traits is a conscious desire to shock.” as you refer to PF.

          YES. He is very provocative and it is a very nasty quality.

          Reply
  15. Thanks Steve for fixing the problem with these commercials popping up.

    Why did i know you would be right on it and fix it asap? LOL

    Reply
  16. The full-scale assault on the Faith continues. Now a Cardinal calls for Leo XIII’s declaration on the nullity of Anglican orders to be revised, because of that Pope’s “rigidity”.

    This is full-scale apostasy.

    The Cardinal’s words need to be read. They are unashamedly Modernist and breath-taking in their arrogance.

    http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/7068/0/anglican-orders-not-invalid-says-cardinal-opening-way-for-revision-of-current-catholic-position-

    Reply
    • Beat me to it. I had just copied it to be pasted here.

      Absolute apostasy. And everyone knows it.

      Will we see a fight over this?

      So WHAT if a Bishop is “orthodox” if he won’t FIGHT to defend the faith? No amount of “orthodoxy” trumps effeminate cowardice. Do “orthodox” Bishops and Cardinals know any other word in the face of heresy than “surrender”?

      Do the supposedly-orthodox Bishops not realize that the Modernists simply send up all these balloons testing the air to see if they will float, and then when they do proceed to set up a fleet of them? Or DO THEY?

      Is there a single holy, Catholic man left among the leadership of the CHURCH?

      Let’s face it, NOTHING proclaimed before Vatican 2, no matter how Magesterial, is sacred or safe to the leadership of the modern Church.

      What has happened to the Catholic Church?

      Reply

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