More than half a million left Germany’s Catholic Church last year as abuse scandal swirls
Berlin, GermanyAP More than half a million people formally left the Catholic Church in Germany last year, significantly higher than the previous record as the church wrestles with a long-running scandal over abuse by clergy and with calls for far-reaching reform. The German Bishops’ Conference said Wednesday that 522,821 left the church last year, up […]
German bishop resigns, cites responsibility in abuse scandal
Berlin, Germany AP Pope Francis on Saturday accepted a resignation request from a German bishop who asked to step down because of his mistakes in handling sexual abuse cases. Franz-Josef Bode, who has been the Bishop of Osnabrueck, Germany, since 1995, said in a personal statement that his decision to resign “has matured in me in […]
Contentious German Catholic Church reform assembly opens last meeting
Berlin, Germany AP Germany’s Catholic bishops and lay representatives gathered on Thursday for the final meeting of a potentially groundbreaking reform assembly that has been marked by tensions between liberalizers and conservatives and is drawing increasingly open opposition from the Vatican. The German process, dubbed the “Synodal Path,” was launched in 2019 in response to […]
Catholic Church in Germany: Cardinal’s resignation, refused by Pope, reinvigorates church reform
CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ, writing for Religion News Service, takes at look at recent events in the Catholic Church in Germany…
German Catholic archbishop under fire over clergy sex abuse report
Berlin, GermanyAP The head of the German Bishops’ Conference has criticised the handling by one of the country’s most prominent Roman Catholic archbishops of a report on past child sexual abuse by clergy. Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, the Archbishop of Cologne, faces mounting discontent in his diocese over his decision to keep under wraps a […]