Faith: Church investigates allegations of abuse against deceased cardinal

The Catholic Church is investigating allegations of abuse against the founding bishop of the Ruhr diocese and later Cardinal Franz Hengsbach (1910-1991). The Diocese of Essen and the Archdiocese of Paderborn announced this in parallel press releases on Tuesday. Hengsbach founded the new diocese in Germany’s largest metropolitan area in 1958 and led it until his death in 1991. Previously he was auxiliary bishop in Paderborn.

If the allegations are true, Hengsbach would be the first highest-ranking Catholic clergyman in Germany to be proven to have committed abuse. The diocese of Essen calls the allegations “serious” in the statement. It says that other possible affected people should contact the independent contact persons in the diocese.

Alleged abuse of a 16-year-old

One case concerns the alleged abuse of a 16-year-old teenager in 1954 in the Archdiocese of Paderborn during Hengsbach’s time as auxiliary bishop. The alleged victim came forward in June 2011 and reported abuse by both Franz Hengsbach and his brother Paul Hengsbach, who died in 2018 and was also a priest. Paul Hengsbach vehemently denied the allegations.

The allegations were subsequently rejected as “not plausible” by the Paderborn Vicariate General and later also by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome. The woman received no money. From today’s perspective and after renewed examination, the plausibility assessment at that time “unfortunately has to be clearly questioned,” said the message from Paderborn. In another case with allegations against Paul Hengsbach, which the priest had also contradicted, the victim had already been granted recognition services.

Hengsbach was one of the most famous clergymen in Germany

An affected person who wishes to remain anonymous reported a second case in the diocese of Essen in October 2022: She reported a suspected sexual assault by Bishop Hengsbach in 1967. According to dpa information, it was also a woman. According to the statement, the current Bishop of Essen, Franz-Josef Overbeck, found out about this in March of this year, also had research carried out in Hengsbach’s diocese of origin in Paderborn and then decided to disclose all allegations, it was said.

Hengsbach, who was made a cardinal in 1988, was one of the most famous clergy in Germany until his death. Among other things, he was co-founder of the episcopal aid organization Adveniat and was a German military bishop for over 17 years.