German Catholic dioceses have ordered the immediate sale of a Church-owned publishing house after reports it made millions selling erotic and pornographic titles.
“The board of management knows our mandatory requirements regarding this company’s value orientation, and that these are written into its statutes,” the Association of German Dioceses said.
“After monitoring the board, we have seen it is impossible to restrict adequately the internet-fuelled dissemination and production of media which contradict the ideals of the shareholders.”
The association announced its decision amid controversy over the output of Weltbild, Germany’s largest publisher, which includes Church documents and devotional works but also steamy titles such as Tempted by Sin.
It said it received a report from board member Jesuit Fr Hans Langendorfer on his efforts to persuade the company to comply with “Church values” but had now instructed its Catholic co-owners to sell their shares “without delay”.
“The credibility of the publishing group and its shareholders has suffered,” the association added.
Based in Augsburg, Weltbild employs 6,400 people and has annual book sales of 1.6 billion euros ($2.1 billion). It also owns book clubs and several nationwide bookstore chains.
The association of dioceses has owned 24 per cent shares for the past three decades; a further 13 per cent is owned by the Catholic archdiocese of Munich-Freising and 11 percent by the Augsburg diocese.
About a dozen more of Germany’s 27 dioceses also co-own the firm, along with the Church’s Berlin-based military diocese.
Weltbild insisted erotic material amounted to just a small fraction of its list and said media claims “the Catholic Church profits from pornography” were “untruthful and defamatory.”
“Pornography is a clearly defined term in law – by this definition, neither Weltbild nor its associates earn millions from pornography,” said the company, which added it would take legal action “against its slanderers.”
Germany’s Deutsche Welle news agency reported that, in 2008, lay Catholics had sent share-owning dioceses a 79-page dossier on Weltbild, pointing out that it was “selling pornographic titles”, up to 2,500 having been found under the search for “erotik” on the site. – CNS