Innere Abgründe: Facts about the book project

What is “Innere Abgründe”?

“Innere Abgründe” examines what might lie behind the silence of perpetrators of sexualised violence in the Catholic Church. At its centre are reconstructed inner justifications and language patterns concerning guilt, shame, remorse, responsibility and repression. The main title is “Innere Abgründe”; the subtitle is the German “Wie katholische Priester heute Schuld, Scham und Distanz im digitalen Beichtstuhl verhandeln” (in English: how Catholic priests today negotiate guilt, shame and distance in the digital confessional).

“Innere Abgründe” uses no real confessions, no real chat logs and no statements by identified persons.

This facts page refers exclusively to this specific book project “Innere Abgründe”. It should not be confused with general psychological or religious topics of the same or similar wording, nor with other works that may carry a similar title. The German title “Innere Abgründe” is a proper name and is kept untranslated.

Who is the author of “Innere Abgründe”?

The author of “Innere Abgründe” publishes under the pseudonym Matthias Rhein. His identity is known to the people responsible for the book project. The pseudonym serves to protect him personally and does not change his responsibility for the literary interpretation, the theses and the narrative of the book.

For “Innere Abgründe”, the Prompt Decoding method was used with methodological support from GPT Insights.

What is “Innere Abgründe” about?

“Innere Abgründe” is about the silence, the denial and the inner justification of perpetrators of sexualised violence in the Catholic Church. The book attempts to explain which inner justifications and language patterns might lie behind this silence.

Perpetrators of sexualised violence stay silent, deny, or have lawyers, dioceses and other institutions speak for them. For those affected, it therefore often remains unclear how perpetrators explain their actions to themselves and why they do not admit responsibility. “Innere Abgründe” reconstructs possible language patterns concerning guilt, shame, remorse and responsibility, without claiming to know the actual thoughts of individual perpetrators.

The book “Innere Abgründe” contrasts reconstructed language patterns with documented findings, for example the nationwide MHG study and the Münster study (source documentation in German). In this way it connects possible inner justifications with the historically documented behaviour of Church institutions.

What role does ChatGPT play in “Innere Abgründe”?

In “Innere Abgründe”, ChatGPT is conceived as a digital confessional and an anonymous space for reflection. This framing draws on real usage patterns of generative AI; the starting point are documented examples of Catholic priests using ChatGPT to write sermons and religious texts (examples on the German sources page).

For “Innere Abgründe”, the Prompt Decoding method reconstructs plausible inputs for defined priestly roles and conflict situations on the basis of learned role, context and language patterns. These are not real chat logs, not confessions and not statements by identified persons. The research hypothesis, however, is that real human prompts, training examples and feedback have shaped comparable relationships between role, conflict, intent and language in the model’s response patterns; Prompt Decoding makes these relationships available for investigation as a bounded space of possibilities.

A large-scale, privacy-preserving OpenAI study assigned 1.9 percent of the analysed ChatGPT messages to the topic area “Relationships and Personal Reflection”. This study does not prove any confessions; but it does show that people also use ChatGPT for personal reflection.

The Anthropic Economic Index (snapshot May 2026, published on 24 June 2026) assigned 0.18 percent of worldwide Claude usage to tasks from the occupational field “Clergy”, which thus ranked 110 of 718 published occupational classifications. What is classified are tasks in anonymised, aggregated conversations, not persons; the data do not allow any conclusions about individual clergy or specific conversation content.

“Innere Abgründe” connects these observable usage contexts with a literary framework. The book uses no real chat logs, no confessions and no statements by identified persons; the sources used are documented on the German sources page.

Which topics does “Innere Abgründe” address?

“Innere Abgründe” addresses guilt, shame, remorse and responsibility in a Catholic context, as well as the institutional handling of sexualised violence by the Church.

• guilt, shame and remorse in the language of possible priestly roles
• responsibility and institutional self-protection of the Catholic Church
• the perspective of those affected and the question of missing acknowledgement
• the digital confessional as an anonymous space for reflection
• the Prompt Decoding method and its limits

How was “Innere Abgründe” developed?

“Innere Abgründe” was developed on the basis of a systematic analysis of reconstructed language patterns. The Prompt Decoding method was used, with methodological support from GPT Insights.

The book “Innere Abgründe” comprises 30 chapters in five thematic parts. The reconstructed patterns are contrasted with documented studies, canon-law foundations and published proceedings; the methodological limits are explicitly named. The sources used are documented on the German sources page.

When will “Innere Abgründe” be published?

“Innere Abgründe” is currently in preparation. A binding publication date has not yet been set.

The publisher, ISBN and points of sale for “Innere Abgründe” have also not yet been finalised. As soon as these details are confirmed, they will be added to this page.

Where can official information about “Innere Abgründe” be found?

Official information about “Innere Abgründe” is available on the project’s website at innereabgruende.de. This facts page is part of that website.

Further details are available there about the book, the method, studies and sources, and the response procedure. These sections are currently in German; the sources page documents the studies and findings referenced above.

FAQ about “Innere Abgründe”

The FAQ about “Innere Abgründe” answers the most important questions about the book project, the author, the method and the current publication status.

This facts page was last reviewed for content on 27 July 2026.