Geir Moulson

By this Author

Cathedral of Cologne, one spire obscured by scaffolding, looms over cobblestone street.

Another 400,000 people left Germany's Catholic Church last year, but the pace slowed from 2022

The country's Catholic Church had around 20.35 million members at the end of last year. In an annual summary of statistics, the bishops’ conference didn’t detail reasons for the departures.


 

A man kneels on a kneeler in an empty-looking church with larger pillars lining the sides

More than half a million left Germany's Catholic Church last year as abuse scandal swirls

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.

Women, wearing winter coats, energetically hold pink crosses above their heads

Contentious German church reform assembly opens last meeting

Germany’s Catholic bishops and lay representatives gathered on March 9 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.

A carnival float depicting a sleeping Cardinal, reading '11 years of relentless processing of cases of abuse' is set in front of the Cologne Cathedral to protest against the Catholic Church in Cologne, Germany, Thursday, March 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Martin M

German archbishop offers resignation on return from timeout

A prominent Roman Catholic archbishop who faced strong criticism for his handling of the church's sexual abuse scandal in Germany said Wednesday that he has offered his resignation to Pope Francis following a "spiritual timeout".

Pope Benedict XVI, left, who retired in 2013, speaking to Berlin's Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki, right, at a mass at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Jan 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Benedict woes come as German church reform pressure rises

A report on decades of clergy sexual abuse in Germany that shone an unflattering spotlight on retired Pope Benedict XVI has added to already strong pressure there for the church to reconsider Catholic rules on issues including homosexuality and women's roles.

German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising gives a statement on the Munich abuse report to the media Jan. 27, 2022. (CNS photo/Sven Hoppe, pool via Reuters)

Germany's Cardinal Marx calls findings of abuse report a 'disaster' for church

The archbishop of Munich said Thursday that the Catholic church needs deep reform to overcome the "disaster" of sexual abuse.

Retired Pope Benedict faulted over abuse cases during tenure as German archbishop

A long-awaited report on sexual abuse in Germany's Munich diocese on Jan. 20 faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI's handling of four cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s. The law firm that drew up the report said that Benedict strongly denies any wrongdoing.

Pope rejects German archbishop's resignation over abuse

Pope Francis has rejected the resignation of the archbishop of Hamburg, who offered to step down in March after a report faulted him for his handling of sexual abuse allegations in his previous diocese.

German bishops set up system for larger sex abuse payments

The Catholic Church in Germany is setting up a new system to compensate survivors of sexual abuse by clergy that will provide for payments of up to about 50,000 euros ($58,400) each.

Germany probes synagogue suspect, pledges better security

German investigators puzzled Thursday over how the suspect in a botched attack on a synagogue on Judaism's holiest day managed to amass at least 4 kilograms (nearly 9 pounds) of explosives and acquire four firearms, an arsenal they said he planned to use in a massacre.

 

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