The Diocese of Münster also asked any other persons affected by the priest to contact the Intervention and Prevention Unit of the Diocese of Münster.
Published Jun 24, 2025 | 5:09 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 25, 2025 | 6:36 PM
The Diocese of Münster said the accused was a priest of the universal church between 2005 and 2007, and served as chaplain in Horstmar, St. Gertrudis and Horstmar-Leer, and St. Cosmas and Damian. (iStock)
Synopsis: The Diocese of Münster in Germany alleged that the Bishop of Nalgonda had sexually abused a person between 2005 and 2007, when the prelate was a priest of the universal Church. The diocese has prohibited the bishop from exercising any priestly duties in the Diocese of Münster.
The Diocese of Münster in Germany has notified the public prosecutor in that city about a case of sexual abuse involving an Indian priest.
Though the diocese, located in North Rhine-Westphalia, did not name the priest, it said the accused was transferred as the Bishop of Nalgonda in Telangana in April 2024.
Fr Karnam Dhaman Kumar is the Bishop of the Diocese of Nalgonda in the Ecclesiastical Province of Hyderabad.
“An Indian priest who served as a priest of the universal Church in the Diocese of Münster from 2001 to 2012 and from 2017 to 2024 has been accused of sexual abuse,” Dr. Stephan Kronenburg, Press spokesman for the Diocese of Münster, said in a statement on Tuesday, 24 June.
“The priest was relieved of his priestly duties in the Diocese of Münster at the end of April 2024 because he had been appointed Bishop of Nalgonda, India. The allegations, which a victim made to the Diocese of Münster in March of this year, relate to the years 2005 to 2007,” he further said.
The statement said that the accused was a priest of the universal church between 2005 and 2007, and served as chaplain in Horstmar, St. Gertrudis and Horstmar-Leer, and St. Cosmas and Damian.
“He also served as pastor there from 2017 to 2020, before moving to the parish of St. Bartholomäus in Essen (Oldenburg) in the Cloppenburg district in 2020,” the statement said.
In 2019, Pope Francis established the procedural rules for cases in which allegations of sexual abuse are made against a bishop in an apostolic letter. These require the diocese in which the allegations are made to inform both the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome and the metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province in which the accused resides.
“In the case of the Bishop of Nalgonda, this is the Archbishop of Hyderabad, Cardinal Anthony Poola. The Diocese of Münster has fulfilled these obligations. Cardinal Poola must now request the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to initiate an investigation into the case,” Kronenburg said.
“Independent of these canonical proceedings, the Diocese of Münster has reported the matter to the Münster Public Prosecutor’s Office. Furthermore, the person concerned has filed a motion in the proceedings for recognition of his suffering. Because the accused has repeatedly visited the Diocese of Münster in the past, the diocesan administrator of the diocese, Dr. Antonius Hamers, has prohibited him from exercising any priestly duties in the Diocese of Münster until further notice,” he added.
The Diocese of Münster also asked any other persons affected by the priest to contact the Intervention and Prevention Unit of the Diocese of Münster (Tel. +49 251 495-15644).
Incidentally, a Universität Münster study published in June 2022 revealed that between 1945 and 2020, at least 196 clerics from the Diocese of Münster – specifically, 183 priests, a permanent deacon, and 12 brothers – allegedly committed acts of sexual abuse against minors.
“The bishops and other people in a position of responsibility in the diocese management knew about the acts, in some cases in detail,” says Prof. Thomas Großbölting, who, together with Prof. Klaus Große Kracht, conducted the study.
“These people knew of many cases – and not only since 2010, when the scandal involving child abuse made such headlines in Germany – in which priests in the diocese of Münster had been sexually abusing children, young people and those in their charge,” he added.
