A former leader of the Catholic Church in Germany announced on Friday that he will return the Order of Merit he received from German authorities following revelations about how he ignored cases of sexual abuse by the clergy, the international press reported.
Robert Zollitsch wrote to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that he would return the Order of Merit awarded to him in 2014, his spokesman said in a statement quoted by the AP on Friday.
The spokesman said the decision was made in response to a statement from Zollitsch in October in which the 84-year-old priest acknowledged he had made serious mistakes and asked for forgiveness.
An independent report was presented on Tuesday by order of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. [no sudoeste da Alemanha]about how the Church has handled cases of abuse over the decades.
This is the latest in a series of reports shedding light on the actions of Catholic church officials, or lack thereof, in Germany’s dioceses.
One of the authors, Eugen Endress, said Zollitsch completely ignored canon law regarding cases of abuse while in charge of the Freiburg diocese.
For example, Endress stated that violating the rules of celibacy by a minister was punished, but child abuse was not punished by the religious authorities of Freiburg. “We were speechless,” he said.
Zollitsch was responsible for religious issues in Freiburg from 1983 until he became archbishop in 2003, a position he held until 2013. He was the leader of the German Bishops’ Conference from 2008 to 2014.
Freiburg, in the southwest corner of Germany, is one of the largest dioceses in the country, with an estimated 1.8 million Catholics.
The diocese decided on Thursday to remove portraits of Zollitsch and his predecessor, Oskar Saier, from the offices of current Archbishop Stephan Burger.
Zollitsch had no comment after the report was released this week.
In addition to giving up the Order of Merit, Zollitsch has informed Archbishop Burger that he will give up the privilege of being buried in the episcopal crypt at Freiburg Cathedral, the statement said.
Source: DN
