According to allegations published Wednesday in a German newspaper, leading Catholic bishop Walter Mixa physically abused children in a church orphanage three decades ago. The bishop's office has denied the accusations. 

The German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung published a report on its website on Wednesday alleging that Bishop Walter Mixa had "slapped, punched or spanked the behinds of boys and girls who had misbehaved" at an orphanage in the southern town of Schrobenhausen in the 1970s.

The newspaper said three women and two men had given statements under oath that Mixa had beaten them repeatedly.

 

One of the women, a 47-year-old who asked to remain unidentified, confirmed the report on Wednesday, telling the German Press Agency that she had been punched while at the orphanage.

 

"They were blows to the face with the palm of his hand or his fist," she said.

This, btw, is the very same prelate who blamed sexual abuse by priests on "the sexual revolution".

For those who read German, the SZ is all over this.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman