German Catholics accused of 'stonewalling' by child abuse victims

Germany's under-fire Catholic Church admitted Thursday it must urgently confront its child sex abuse scandal, but victims accused it of continued "stonewalling", especially on compensation.

As in Australia, Chile, France, Ireland and the United States, Germany's Catholic Church has had to admit to abuses by predator priests and clergy and their systematic cover-up over decades.

"We carry responsibility toward those affected around the world -- no-one among us can still negate the problem or treat it as a taboo," said Cardinal Reinhard Marx, head of the German Bishops' Conference.

To the thousands of German victims and to other critics, Marx said, "we see and hear you ... we have understood", speaking at the end of a four-day episcopal conference in the western city of Lingen.

The era of silence "is over", he stressed weeks after a Vatican conference also addressed the issue, and he admitted that it should have been dealt with "perhaps 20 years, 30 years ago".

But Cardinal Marx also ...