Church in the World
The German Weltbild publishing group, which is one of Europe’s major booksellers and is entirely owned by the Catholic Church, is facing mounting accusations that it is selling erotic, satanist and pornographic titles.
On Monday the Pope himself appeared to make reference to the furore, when he told the new German ambassador to the Holy See that he would make sure the Catholic Church in Germany was more decisive in fighting prostitution and the spread of pornography.
In his welcoming address to Reinhard Schweppe, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The time has come vigorously to restrict prostitution, as also the dissemination of material which has an erotic or pornographic content, especially via the internet.” In comments that are being seen as referring to the Weltbild affair, the Pope then told Mr Schweppe: “The Holy See will pay due heed to seeing that the necessary commitment on the part of the German Church regarding these defects is undertaken with greater energy and clarity.”
Weltbild is co-owned by 15 German dioceses. With 6,400 employees and an annual turnover of €1.7 billion (£1.46bn), it is the third largest mail-order bookseller in Germany and has a 20 per cent share of the book market. It is the number two in online sales after Amazon and also sells CDs and DVDs.
In mid-October the German book trade journal buchreport revealed in its newsletter that Weltbild’s mail-order business included titles on satanism, books which glorified violence, and pornography. If one put “erotics” in www.weltbild.de’s search engine, 2,500 titles appeared, www.buchreport.de said.
The secretary of the German bishops’ conference, Fr Hans Langendörfer SJ, who is on the executive board of Weltbild, and the executive board’s chairman, Klaus Donaubauer, immediately countered that those responsible had been asked to step up efforts to filter out “unsuitable products”. Weltbild had a particular responsibility to society and regularly checked its products to see if they conformed to “the Christian values of Weltbild’s owners (i.e. the Catholic Church)”, they underlined.
Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich told the press that if the bishops heard of pornographic titles or titles which glorified violence the matter was immediately investigated and the titles stopped. “There are filter systems that can prevent such literature from being disseminated,” he said.
But as protests from conservative Catholic groups grew, and more dubious titles on www.weltbild.de were found and their names published, the German bishops admitted that a “filtering failure” had allowed dubious titles to stray into Weltbild’s lists. Weltbild’s management has meanwhile threatened to sue certain far-right online networks for slander for publishing headlines such as “Catholic Church earns a fortune with porn”.
The Catholic Church bought Weltbild more than 30 years ago. In 1998 it merged with five other publishing houses. In 2008, at the height of its success, the German bishops considered selling the concern. The Weltbild group’s chairman, Carel Halff, said then that the size of the company had “gone beyond the bishops’ original concept”. At that time Weltbild had 7,400 employees and a turnover of €1.94bn, while one of its subsidiaries, www.buecher.de, listed 4,364 erotic titles. Criticism from conservative Catholics regarding these titles is said to have persuaded the bishops to try to sell. But their efforts came to nothing, apparently, because they were not offered the sum they were hoping for.
n In his address to the new German ambassador on Monday Pope Benedict defended the Vatican’s active lobbying against legalised abortion and embryonic research, saying it was based on upholding universal moral truths and not an attempt to impose Catholic faith on non-believers. “If the Holy See intervenes in the legislative field”, the Pope told Mr Schweppe, “it does so to defend values which are basically there for all to see as truths of human existence.”
Publisher owned by German Church accused of selling pornography
Christa Pongratz-Lippitt and Robert Mickens - 12 November 2011The German Weltbild publishing group, which is one of Europe’s major booksellers and is entirely owned by the Catholic Church, is facing mounting accusations that it is selling erotic, satanist and pornographic titles.
On Monday the Pope himself appeared to make reference to the furore, when he told the new German ambassador to the Holy See that he would make sure the Catholic Church in Germany was more decisive in fighting prostitution and the spread of pornography.
In his welcoming address to Reinhard Schweppe, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The time has come vigorously to restrict prostitution, as also the dissemination of material which has an erotic or pornographic content, especially via the internet.” In comments that are being seen as referring to the Weltbild affair, the Pope then told Mr Schweppe: “The Holy See will pay due heed to seeing that the necessary commitment on the part of the German Church regarding these defects is undertaken with greater energy and clarity.”
Weltbild is co-owned by 15 German dioceses. With 6,400 employees and an annual turnover of €1.7 billion (£1.46bn), it is the third largest mail-order bookseller in Germany and has a 20 per cent share of the book market. It is the number two in online sales after Amazon and also sells CDs and DVDs.
In mid-October the German book trade journal buchreport revealed in its newsletter that Weltbild’s mail-order business included titles on satanism, books which glorified violence, and pornography. If one put “erotics” in www.weltbild.de’s search engine, 2,500 titles appeared, www.buchreport.de said.
The secretary of the German bishops’ conference, Fr Hans Langendörfer SJ, who is on the executive board of Weltbild, and the executive board’s chairman, Klaus Donaubauer, immediately countered that those responsible had been asked to step up efforts to filter out “unsuitable products”. Weltbild had a particular responsibility to society and regularly checked its products to see if they conformed to “the Christian values of Weltbild’s owners (i.e. the Catholic Church)”, they underlined.
Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich told the press that if the bishops heard of pornographic titles or titles which glorified violence the matter was immediately investigated and the titles stopped. “There are filter systems that can prevent such literature from being disseminated,” he said.
But as protests from conservative Catholic groups grew, and more dubious titles on www.weltbild.de were found and their names published, the German bishops admitted that a “filtering failure” had allowed dubious titles to stray into Weltbild’s lists. Weltbild’s management has meanwhile threatened to sue certain far-right online networks for slander for publishing headlines such as “Catholic Church earns a fortune with porn”.
The Catholic Church bought Weltbild more than 30 years ago. In 1998 it merged with five other publishing houses. In 2008, at the height of its success, the German bishops considered selling the concern. The Weltbild group’s chairman, Carel Halff, said then that the size of the company had “gone beyond the bishops’ original concept”. At that time Weltbild had 7,400 employees and a turnover of €1.94bn, while one of its subsidiaries, www.buecher.de, listed 4,364 erotic titles. Criticism from conservative Catholics regarding these titles is said to have persuaded the bishops to try to sell. But their efforts came to nothing, apparently, because they were not offered the sum they were hoping for.
n In his address to the new German ambassador on Monday Pope Benedict defended the Vatican’s active lobbying against legalised abortion and embryonic research, saying it was based on upholding universal moral truths and not an attempt to impose Catholic faith on non-believers. “If the Holy See intervenes in the legislative field”, the Pope told Mr Schweppe, “it does so to defend values which are basically there for all to see as truths of human existence.”
No comments:
Post a Comment