News magazine Der Spiegel reported Sunday that Germany's Catholic Church is planning to launch a mass investigation into possible sexual abuse committed by clergy.

According to the magazine, the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN) will be granted access to the personnel records for the past 10 years for all 27 German dioceses. In addition, records will be made available for nine dioceses dating back to 1945.

Church employees will be investigated by a team of KFN experts, consisting of retired prosecutors and judges, who will look at the records. Additionally the alleged victims of sexual assault will be given a questionnaire to fill in details about the incident. Following these stages, a second round of in-depth interviews will be made with offenders.

Psychological investigation

The unanimous decision for the full inquiry was made at the German Bishops' Conference on June 20, according to Der Spiegel.

The investigation will determine how such abuses came about, how the church has dealt with them in the past, and what conclusions can be drawn to prevent new cases.

In another study, a group headed by renowned Essen court psychiatrist Norbert Leygraf will examine 50 cases of clergy who are under suspicion of sexual misconduct. This group will focus on the psychological side of the cases.

Following a spate of allegations of sexual abuse that rocked the Catholic Church in 2009 and 2010, the German Catholic Bishops' Conference was criticized for their slow response. In March, it agreed to a 5,000-euro ($6,900) payout for victims of sexual abuse.

Author: Catherine Bolsover (dapd, AFP, eda)

Editor: Toma Tasovac