Head of Germany’s Catholic Church offers his resignation over ‘sexual abuse catastrophe’

(CNN) – The leader of the Catholic Church in Germany, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, wrote to Pope Francis asking him to accept his resignation as Archbishop of Munich and Freising, citing his “shared responsibility for the catastrophe of sexual abuse” by officials of the the Catholic Church reveals a letter published on Friday.

“In essence, it is important to me to share responsibility for the catastrophe of sexual abuse by Church officials over the past decades,” Marx wrote to the pope in a letter sent on May 21.

“Investigations and reports over the last ten years have consistently shown that there have been many personal failures and administrative errors, but also institutional or ‘systemic’ failures,” he added.

According to a statement from the Archdiocese of Munich, Pope Francis has informed Cardinal Marx that he must continue to exercise his episcopal ministry until a decision is made.

The statement also notes that Marx has “repeatedly considered resigning his post in recent months.”

“It is painful for me to witness the severe damage to the reputation of bishops in ecclesiastical and secular perception that it may even be at an all-time low,” said Marx.

“I feel that by remaining silent, neglecting action and concentrating too much on the reputation of the Church, I have made myself personally guilty and responsible,” he added.

Speaking at the historic Vatican summit in February 2019, Marx admitted that documents that could have contained evidence of sexual abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church were destroyed or never redacted.

“The archives that could have documented the terrible events and named those responsible were destroyed or not even created,” said Marx.

“The procedures and processes stipulated for prosecution offenses were deliberately not adhered to… such standard practices will make clear that it is not transparency that harms the church, but acts of abuse committed, lack of transparency, or the resulting cover-up ”He added.

In a subsequent press conference during the summit, Marx said the information on the destruction of archives came from a study commissioned by German bishops in 2014. The study was “scientific” and did not name the leaders of the particular church or diocese. in Germany they destroyed the files.