Head of German Bishops accuses his predecessor

Bishop Bätzing accuses Robert Zollitsch of irresponsible action

Zollitsch is said to have failed in dealing with abuse during his time as Archbishop of Freiburg. Bätzing, as President of the Bishops' Conference, distances himself from him.

The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, has clearly distanced himself from his predecessor, former Freiburg Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, accusing him of irresponsible handling of abuse cases. "During his time as chairman of the Bishops' Conference in 2010, decisive measures were taken to come to terms with abuse in the Catholic Church. He apparently did not apply these even in his diocese during the same time and passed them over," Bätzing told the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung. He found this irresponsible and was at a loss as to how this could have happened. Obviously, effective control had been lacking.

Former Archbishop Zollitsch was also president of the German Bishops' Conference from February 2008 to March 2014. A report published on Tuesday on sexual abuse by clergy in the archdiocese of Freiburg shows that his tenure in Freiburg until 2013 was marked by "concrete cover-up behaviour". Zollitsch had put the protection of perpetrators above everything else, ignored the suffering of victims and deliberately broken Church law.

The 84-year-old had already admitted serious mistakes and personal guilt in a video in October. His spokesman recently announced, without giving any reasons, that Zollitsch was giving back his Federal Cross of Merit and that he was also giving up the privilege of being buried in the Bishop's Crypt in Freiburg Cathedral.

Bätzing went on to tell the newspaper that the current Archbishop of Freiburg, Stephan Burger, had acted correctly in asking the Vatican to review what had happened. In this case, he said, "Rome must judge how the results of the expert opinion on Archbishop Zollitsch are to be classified - and may have to be sanctioned."

He expects "that in every diocese this difficult process of coming to terms with the situation will be undertaken. Above all, it helps those affected to get their rights," said Bätzing. In his view, however, this process must be placed in independent hands.

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