German bishop 'who beat orphans' resigns

The bishop [Walter Mixa] has not been accused of sexual molestation. Former residents of the Schrobenhausen children's home claim that they were beaten by him with a wooden spoon until it broke, with a carpet beater, or punched hard on the upper arm where bruises would not be visible. [...]

"The paedophiles were often the 'good ones'," an Austrian playwright said recently. "They were the ones who treated us, however perversely, as individuals and understood our home sickness." That was one reason why child victims - who understood that they were being violated - did not denounce their teachers, even after they had left school.

source: Article 'German bishop 'who beat orphans' resigns' by Roger Boyes; www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7104574.ece; Times Online; 22 April 2010