Norway

Catholic bishop admitted to child abuse

The former Catholic Bishop of Trondheim, Georg Müller, has admitted to sexual abuse involving an underage altar boy several years ago. This was the reason why he unexpectedly resigned in June last year.

The news broke after the victim, who is now in his thirties, told his story to a Catholic priest after having kept it a secret for around 20 years. Müller was a priest in Trondheim at the time of the abuse.

According to the Trondheim newspaper Adresseavisen, the man has received a year's salary, around NOK 500,000 in compensation, - what he had asked for.

- This is a deeply tragic incident, and a hard blow for us all, says press spokesman for the Oslo Catholic Diosece, Pål Brattbakk to NRK.

The present Catholic Bishop of Oslo and Trondheim, Bern Eidsvåg, said later Monday that the Catholic Church is aware of four other cases of sexual misconduct in Norway. He says two of the cases are very old, and date back to the beginning of the 1950s. The victims were a boy and a girl, and two different priests were involved. The priests have both died.

Source: NRK/Adresseavisen/Norway Post