The German government convened yesterday round-table talks on the child abuse scandal engulfing the Catholic Church in Pope Benedict XVI's native country amid criticism that victims were excluded.

Annette Schavan, education minister, said in Berlin that "a breach of trust against children and youths took place right in the midst of our society on an unimaginable scale".

"The main aim (of the round table) must be justice for the victims and greatly to improve protection and checks in the future," Ms Schavan told reporters.

In common with other European countries, Germany has been rocked in recent months by revelations that children were physically or sexually abused in institutions, the vast majority run by the Roman Catholic Church.

The scandal has badly damaged the standing of the Church in Germany, and also of the Pope, five years after his appointment as leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics which was a source of great national pride.

The hundreds of cases of abuse mostly date back decades and can no longer be the subject of criminal investigations, but one of the issues the round table looked at is changing the statute of limitations.

Justice Minister Sabine Leuth-eusser-Schnarrenberger pointed to one measure in place that has already borne fruit.

"In four weeks, the hotline established by the Catholic Church to hear victims' stories has received 18,000 calls, leading to 1,600 counselling sessions," she told reporters after the discussions.