Thursday, June 10, 2021 10:20 am
Pope rejects German cardinal s resignation, urges reform
NICOLE WINFIELD | Associated Press
ROME – Pope Francis refused Thursday to let German Cardinal Reinhard Marx resign over the sex abuse scandal in the church, but said a process of reform was necessary and that every bishop must take responsibility for the “catastrophe” of the crisis.
Francis wrote a letter to Marx in response to the German’s bombshell announcement last week that he had offered to resign as archbishop of Munich and Freising over the church’s mishandling of abuse cases.
Francis refused to accept the resignation and told Marx in the letter he must continue as archbishop and “shepherd my sheep.
ROME, June 10 Pope Francis today rejected an offer by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a top German bishop, to resign over the mishandling of sexual abuse and cover-up scandals. “Continue as you propose (in your pastoral work) but as Archbishop of Munich and Freising,” the pope wrote to Marx,.