Sex abuse allegations against a deceased cardinal add to the German church’s troubles

By GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — A top German bishop says a scandal centering on sexual abuse allegations against a long-deceased cardinal has created a “very difficult situation” for the troubled Catholic Church in Germany. He spoke hours after a statue of the late cleric was removed from its perch outside Essen Cathedral on Monday. The accusations against Cardinal Franz Hengsbach, who died in 1991, added to a long-running scandal over abuse by clergy that has shaken the German church. Last week, the Essen diocese said there were suspicions that Hengsbach may have abused a 16-year-old girl in the 1950s when he was an auxiliary bishop in nearby Paderborn, and that another person also accuses him of abusing them in 1967, when he was bishop of Essen.