Whom does Francis (not) allow to resign?

Why is Bode's resignation accepted, but not others? The Vatican journalist Jürgen Erbacher sees this step as a signal that could also have an impact on Cardinal Woelki's resignation request, which has not yet been answered.

DOMRADIO.DE: You once published a book called "The Vatican - The Encyclopedia". Does it say anything about bishop offers of resignation and when the pope will accept them?

Jürgen Erbacher (theologian, journalist and head of the ZDF editorial team "Church and Life"): No, it doesn't even say anything about the resignation of the Pope. That wasn't fashionable when the book was published. And it is also very complicated with the resignation of bishops, as we recently found out in Germany, also in other places when it used to be a question of a Limburg bishop.

It is not the first time from a global church perspective that a bishop has resigned in the context of the abuse scandal and the question of how the bishop worked in the context of the investigation and perhaps also made mistakes. But for Germany it is the first time. That also raises questions for us journalists, to be honest. Why is this resignation accepted and others not? But maybe you can also identify a few clues as to why this happened now.

DOMRADIO.DE: We'll come back to that in a moment. Has Bishop Bode now done what many Bishops are shirking, namely taking responsibility for his failure and that of those responsible for the Diocese in the abuse scandal?

Erbacher: In the past there were also bishops who said I made mistakes in dealing with cases of abuse. I beg your pardon, I take responsibility here. Bishop Bode has said it several times in the past. The Bishop of Essen also said there were cases in which I did not act properly. That was already there.

But what many of those affected and also believers have repeatedly failed to understand is that this assumption of responsibility does not go so far that personal consequences are drawn up to the highest level. Say that a bishop then resigns and says I want to send a very clear signal. Because many of those affected say that asking for an apology is not enough. There are also church services with a confession of guilt, but clear signals are also needed. And with this act, Bishop Bode has made that clear for the first time.

DOMRADIO.DE: The apology or acceptance of responsibility is one thing, the other is the offer of resignation, which the Pope always has to agree to. Were you surprised that Pope Francis accepted Bode's resignation?

Erbacher: I think we were all surprised on Saturday that Bishop Bode submitted his resignation. Because there really wasn't any sign of it. It was the case that last September in Osnabrück, interim results of a study by the university were presented, where it was about the processing of abuse in the diocese of Osnabrück. It became clear once again that this bishop had also made mistakes in the past.

There were demands for his resignation and at the time he said: No, I don't want to resign. I now want to work even more committedly to deal with and prevent abuse so that abuse can no longer occur. So it came as a complete surprise that on January 21 he offered the Pope his resignation. A few weeks later, that happened very quickly, at the end of February he was informed that we would do this on March 25th.

DOMRADIO.DE: With Bishop Bode, it is said that not only because of responsibility in terms of abuse and cover-up, but also for health reasons. Do you think that makes a difference in accepting or rejecting resignations?

Erbacher: You should now be able to look inside the Vatican to see to what extent that also played a role. You have to be honest and say that the Pope, looking at his own person - he has been suffering from knee problems for some time - says that the world church is not governed with his knees, but with his head. If the head is clear, then the pope can remain in office.

The question arises whether he would make a difference for a bishop. Or whether in the end it is not the things that Bishop Bode perhaps also explained to him in his letter, which has not yet been published, with a view to the subject of abuse, processing, own mistakes that were made. Then to say, Holy Father, it is time for a clear signal to be set here and I would like to set it now.

DOMRADIO.DE: How can you explain that to the average Catholic? Especially in connection with the fact that Pope Francis has not yet decided on the resignation offers submitted by Rainer Cardinal Woelki some time ago and has rejected those of Bishop Stefan Hesse and Cardinal Reinhard Marx?

Erbacher: Yes, it's difficult to find a reason. One could be that the Vatican also saw how the reactions to the last decisions were. The fact that the resignations were not accepted has led to further irritation and a further loss of trust in the Catholic Church in Germany. Perhaps they are now saying that we are a year or two further, given Cardinal Marx's offer of resignation, and we simply have to react differently.

I don't know whether Bishop Bode once again made it clear to the Pope in his letter how massive his loss of trust was in the diocese. After the publication of the study, he was massively lacking in support, so that in the end he was left without the most important currency that a bishop ultimately has, namely trust.

You have to take a look now. You also said there is still no decision on the offer of the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Woelki, to resign. But that also means everything is possible, or rather both things are possible. The pope accepts it or at some point he will say it's off the table now, you have to see that you continue to work together, diocese and cardinal. But it cannot be ruled out that other decisions will also be made that are still pending.

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