CNN 2010-04-08

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Hi, Kyra. Yes, and it's not only victims of the church actually wants to call its hotline, it also believes that some priests might call the hotline themselves.

It is of course anonymous¹, to basically report themselves and say that they have things like pedophiliac thoughts. Now what's been going -- going on so far in the first day that this hotline has been on air, Kyra, is that apparently² there have actually been a flood of calls.

The church says that they thought they were going to get about 160 to 200 calls for all of Germany. They say so far they have gotten more than 4,000 calls to that hotline. They say their hotline is swamped. They say they can't keep up.

They said at some stages the hotline actually broke down and they said that people were reporting alleged³ abuses that hadn't been reported before, things that happened in eastern Germany, things that happened that simply had not even been thought about talking about before.

So certainly, so far, the church says that this hotline, if you will, is drawing a lot of attention from people. They say many, many people have tried calling multiple times and simply could not get through because so many people were trying, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: I mean I have a feeling this is just going to be the tip of the iceberg⁴. So two more quick questions. Any critics out there to this hotline? Anyone think this is a bad idea?

PLEITGEN: Yes, there's a lot of people that think this is a bad idea. A lot of people are actually saying that people should not call this hotline. One of those organizations is actually called SNAP, which is a victim's rights organization from the U.S. And that's even issued a press statement urging people not to call this hotline.

They believe that what the church is trying to do with this hotline is trying to cover up the abuses that happens within its ranks over the past decades. And they also say that the other thing the church is trying to do is keep these abuses away from criminal investigators⁵ and from criminal justice authorities.

That's one of the main criticisms that we're hearing. What people are saying, some of them, is that they believe that people who have been abused by priests should very simply go to the police and report this. Go to a lawyer and report this. And not report it to the organization where the people come from that actually abuse them.

So certainly there are a lot of critics here within Germany. Also a lot of victims' rights organizations that are saying the exact same things. So there are a lot of critics out there. Nevertheless, the church said it's simply being swamped by calls right now -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Well, it'll be interesting to see if the church opens up such a hotline here in the U.S.