Prominent German cardinal offers to resign over Church sex abuse
BERLIN — Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a leading figure in Germany’s Roman Catholic Church and a member of Pope Francis’ advisory council, said Friday that he had offered his resignation in a personal gesture to take responsibility for sexual abuses by priests over the past decades.
Speaking to reporters outside the offices of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, the cardinal, who has not been accused of abuse, said he had been considering the decision for months. After spending the weeks leading up to Easter in prayer and reflection, he wrote a letter to the pope, asking to be relieved of his duties.
“It is important to me to share the responsibility for the catastrophe of the sexual abuse by church officials over the past decades,” the cardinal wrote in his letter, which was sent to the Vatican on May 21. In it, he said that he believed Catholics were at a “dead end” over their handling of abuses, which first came to light in Germany in 2002 and culminated in the release of a report by the German Bishops’ Conference in 2018, documenting the sexual abuse of almost 3,700 children over seven decades.
During a news conference after the release of that study, the cardinal, who was serving as the head of the conference, was asked whether any bishops had resigned over the findings. None had. Marx said Friday that the question had stayed with him and led to his decision to try to lead by example.
Marx told reporters that Francis had agreed to publication of his letter but had asked that he continue to carry out his duties until the pope decided whether to accept it. The Vatican had no further comment Friday.
Catholic cardinals are asked to resign when they reach the age of 75, so at 67, Marx could serve for eight more years. Since 2008 he has been the head of the Catholic Church in Germany’s southern state of Bavaria — the same archdiocese that Joseph Ratzinger led from 1977-82, years before becoming Pope Benedict XVI.
A report is expected this summer about the handling of sexual abuse cases in the Munich archdiocese.