Abuse hotline set up by Catholic Church in Germany melts down on first day as 4,000 people phone in

An abuse hotline set up by the Catholic Church in Germany melted down on its first day of operation as more than 4,000 alleged victims of paedophile and violent priests called in to seek counselling and advice.

The numbers were far more than the handful of therapists assigned to deal with them could cope with.

In the end only 162 out of 4,459 callers were given advice before the system was shut down.

Andreas Zimmer, head of the project in the Bishopric of Trier, admitted that he wasn’t prepared for “that kind of an onslaught’.

The hotline is the Church’s attempt to win back trust in the face of an escalating abuse scandal that threatens the papacy of German-born Pontiff Benedict XVI in Rome.

Earlier this week it was alleged that an ally of the Pope, Bishop Mixa, beat children – a charge he has subsequently denied.

Former girls and boys testified that he beat them with fists and a carpet beater which screaming; ‘The devil is in you and I will drive him out!’

Also, the bishopric of Trier reported that 20 priests are suspected of having sexually abused children between the 1950s and 1990s.

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