Berlin: Chancellor Angela Merkel said that sexual abuse of children was a problem facing all of German society, not just the Roman Catholic Church, amid a snowballing scandal over paedophile priests.
"It makes no sense, even if the first cases (of abuse) are in the Catholic Church, to focus on one group. This is something that has happened in many areas of society," Merkel said in a speech to parliament.
"And first and foremost it is also something that is still happening to this day, in part in different forms but with the same consequences."
She added: "Let us not over-simplify matters...all in all this is a test for our entire society."
The German Catholic Church has been thrown into crisis in recent weeks as hundreds of people have come forward alleging they were abused as minors by priests between the 1950s and 1980s.
