Catholic Church in Germany to pay over $43M to victims of sexual abuse, harassment

By Mesut Zeyrek

BONN (AA) - The Catholic Church in Germany will pay over €40 million ($43.75 million) in compensation to the victims of sexual abuse and harassment, an independent commission report announced Friday.

The Independent Recognition Commission (UKA) said in the report that the compensation will be paid to 1,839 people who submitted their cases of harassment or abuse in Catholic churches during the last two years.

The average sum of compensation per victim will be around €22,500, it added.

The report also underscored that three out of four victims are boys and most applications came from the provinces of Cologne and Munster of the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia.