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More bad news for German Catholics. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of the German Bishops' Conference and archbishop of Freiburg, has been accused by prosecutors in Freiburg in southwest Germany of permitting a priest accused of child abuse in the 1960s to be reappointed to a parish job in 1987.
The church in Freiburg accused the prosecutors and media of "sensationalism" by talking of charges of "aiding and abetting sexual abuse" against the 71-year-old archbishop, and denied that the appointment was his direct responsibility.
With pressure for openness and action by the Church, more victims have been encouraged to come out into the open.
Zollitsch has already had to apologize in a separate case for failing to report a case of suspected abuse by a priest to state prosecutors in Freiburg.
Zollitsch, who forced that priest into early retirement, said in March that years later he confronted him over evidence of sexual abuse and told him the Church would now take the case to state prosecutors. The ex-priest then committed suicide.
