Report: Over 3600 children were abused by priests in Germany

Over 3,600 children in Germany have been attacked by Catholic priests in the mid - 1946 ' s and 2014, a public report reveals. The study is authorised by the Church itself and is expected to be published on 25 September.

According to the report, published by Spiegel Online, about 1,670 clergymen in Germany have carried out a form of sexual assault on 3,677 minors. A Church spokesman said he is “shocked and ashamed” by the findings. The report is the latest in a long series of sis, which have discovered decades of sexual abuse by Catholic priests worldwide.

According to the new study, only 38% of the suspected authors have been prosecuted and are faced only with minor disciplinary procedures. About one in six cases has involved rape. Most of the victims were boys, and more than half were 13 or younger. / REL/