Munich archdiocese agrees compensation with abuse survivor

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising has agreed to pay compensation to abuse survivor Andreas Perr, BR reported on Monday. The amount was not disclosed at Perr’s request.

The Traunstein Regional Court had proposed a range for the compensation, and the archdiocese offered the maximum. Perr accepted the offer and withdrew his claim against the priest, Peter H.

Perr said the settlement brought a decades-long struggle to an end. He had accused Peter H. of sexually abusing him when he was about 11 and serving as an altar boy in the parish of Garching an der Alz in the mid-1990s. The priest admitted the offence in a church proceeding. An expert report concluded that the abuse had contributed to Perr’s psychological and social development.

Perr also sued former Pope Benedict XVI, whose birth name was Joseph Ratzinger, and former Munich and Freising Archbishop Friedrich Wetter. Ratzinger, who was archbishop at the time, approved Peter H.’s transfer to Munich after earlier abuse incidents in the Diocese of Essen. Ratzinger denied during his lifetime that he knew of the abuse allegations.

The case against Ratzinger was separated from the other proceedings in June 2023 after his death, while a legal successor was sought. It remains suspended because no successor has been identified. Perr withdrew his claim against Wetter in June 2023.