A Catholic priest, almost canonized after his death, turned out to be a sex offender. Reported by the Associated Press.
Rev. Warenfried van Straten, founder of the Catholic charity Kirche in Not, passed away in 2003. Seven years later, a former employee of the foundation learned that the deceased priest wanted to be canonized, and spoke about the sexual abuse she experienced in 1973.
In February, information about the charges brought against van Straten was published by the German media. The articles referred to a note by Bishop Manfred Groth. He was appointed by the Vatican to study the organizational and management problems of the organization, however, he learned about possible sexual abuse by its founder. Grotto informed the Vatican of his research, thereby ending the campaign to beatified van Straten, the first step towards canonization.
After the scandal in the media, the organization said that it learned about the incident back in 2010. Then the foundation considered the victim’s words plausible and paid her compensation in the amount of 16 thousand euros. The woman was 23 years old at the time of the sexual assault.