Not only is a German prelate accused of abusing adolescents sexually in several nations, but he also held the position of bishop in Ecuador.
According to a reputable investigation released on Monday, he let paedophile priests sought by law enforcement evade punishment while serving as the head of a German charitable group.
According to a statement released on August 8 by the German Bishops’ Conference, the late Bishop Emil Stehle (1926-2017), also known in Latin America as Emilio Lorenzo Stehle, has been accused of sexual abuse in 16 incidents.
Additionally, it was discovered that Stehle, the leader of Adveniat, the Church in Germany’s assistance agency for Latin America, had made it easier for priests to flee from authorities by arranging their entry into Latin American nations.
According to the inquiry, he also used funds from the German Bishops’ Conference to help the suspected offenders financially.
The 148-page study was written by attorney and mediator Bettina Janssen on behalf of the Association of German Dioceses, according to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.
There are 16 complaints and hints of sexual assault against Stehle in the report.
The bishops’ conference released a statement saying that the priest’s “described offences spanned his time as a priest in Bogotá (Colombia) [in the 1950s], as managing director of Adveniat in Essen [1972-1984], and later as an auxiliary bishop of Quito [1983-1986] and as bishop of Santo Domingo [1987-2002] in Ecuador.
Stehle has long been the target of allegations. In September 2021 and June 2022, CNA Deutsch published articles on allegations of abuse against Stehle and his alleged involvement in assisting paedophile priests from Germany and other nations to flee to Latin America.
The author of the new research warned that there could be additional abuse incidents in addition to those already reported.
Janssen prompted further questions “efforts to contact potential victims, in collaboration with the relevant Latin American dioceses.
Investigators should further examine if church leadership were aware of Stehle’s acts and what actions they took as a result in order to get a comprehensive picture.”
The German Bishops’ Conference said on August 8 that Stehle made sure that some priests who were suspected of abuse could continue to operate covertly in Latin America.
The probe, according to the German bishops, is still underway. They said that there would “not be a conclusion,” just “consequences, the specifics of which still need to be defined.”
According to Father Martin Maier, S.J., the current CEO of Adveniat, “We appreciate that this study was conducted.
It is a facet of the reality that the church in Germany and throughout the globe must confront. We owe that to those who support our work as well as the victims of sexualized violence.”
Adveniat held “on the side of those afflicted in Germany and Latin America” and was firmly devoted to a “stand of absolutely zero tolerance for the crime of sexual abuse.”
Stehle spent his retirement years in Germany until passing away in 2017 at the age of 80.