A petition has been launched in Germany calling on the Catholic Church not to invoke the statute of limitations in compensation cases brought by victims of abuse.

The petition was signed by no fewer than 100,000 people in Germany and was announced by the victims’ initiative Eckiger Tisch, according to the statement.

“Square table” in German before the start on Monday of the autumn plenary assembly of the German Bishops’ Conference in the central city of Fulda.

“The Catholic Church must no longer invoke the statute of limitations in compensation cases,” said the group’s co-founder Matthias Katsch.

In response to revelations of widespread abuse of children and young people by priests, especially in the early post-war decades.

The Catholic Church set up a system of voluntary so-called recognition payments.

Under this, an independent commission grants funds to victims without them having to provide actual evidence of abuse.

There is broad criticism that the amounts paid are insufficient, and in individual cases, higher six-figure sums were won in court.

However, many lawsuits never even get off the ground because the Church invokes the statute of limitations.

According to victims’ initiatives, this is particularly unfair because the Church by its own admission often covered up the crimes for many years. (dpa/NAN)