Berlin, May 09: Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of a German catholic bishop over allegations of physically abusing young children and financial misconduct when he was a priest more than 30 years ago.
The Vatican said in a brief statement yesterday that the Pope accepted a request to step down from Bishop Walter Mixa of the Augsburg diocese in the state of Bavaria, under the canonical law allowing retirement of clergymen before reaching the age of 75 because of illness or other grave reasons.
He has been relieved of his responsibilities and also as the bishop of the German armed forces, the statement said.
For weeks, Bishop Mixa repeatedly denied accusations by several former inmates of a children’s home in Bavaria that he had beaten them up when he was a local priest there between 1975 and 1996.
–PTI