The day: The government official disliked church-related work on sexual abuse

According to a "Spiegel" report, the federal government's abuse commissioner, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, threatened to terminate official talks with the EKD out of dissatisfaction with the speed with which sexual abuse was being processed in the Evangelical Church (EKD).

• As the news magazine reports, the EKD council for protection against sexual violence, headed by the Hamburg Bishop Kirsten Fehrs, then gave in and agreed to present a draft for a joint agreement by the end of September.
• At the end of 2018, the EKD announced at a synod that it would create binding standards for the independent processing of sexual violence. Among other things, it is about setting up independent work-up commissions in the 20 regional churches.
• Most of the committees are to be made up of external experts and those affected. At the end of June, Fehrs had announced that the EKD had so far identified around 785 victims of abuse under the umbrella of the church and diakonia.