A monk, a religious sister, a pastor, and soon an abbess – church asylum proceedings are pending against all of them. And they all come from Upper or Lower Franconia.
A week after the latest Bavarian church asylum ruling, both sides have appealed. As was to be expected, one could say: A pastor in Pegnitz was found guilty of “aiding and abetting illegal residence”, but the sentencing was not very severe – which both sides disagree with.
If you look at the comments on the judgment, it becomes clear that there is hardly anything that separates people as much as such processes. Two sides are irreconcilably opposed to each other: Law and statute must also apply to church representatives without a discount, some indignantly. The others responded that the man only acted as his conscience told him to do. On the other hand, the fact that the same law should apply in the Free State, everywhere, should be common knowledge. With a view to similar procedures, however, doubts could creep in.
All pending church asylum proceedings are currently concentrated on a delimited geographical area: Northern Bavaria. But not only that, but especially for the two rather sparsely populated districts of Lower and Upper Franconia. Less than 18 percent of the population of Bavaria live there – of course, more and more of these cases are pending there: in Kitzingen, Würzburg, Bayreuth, and soon in Bamberg. A monk is affected, a nun, a pastor, and soon an abbess. And each of the charges falls within the scope of the Bamberg Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Pure coincidence? Of course, say both the Attorney General and the Justice Department. After all, the same legal situation applies everywhere. Not only those affected do not want to believe in such strange coincidences. Should a legal warning sign possibly (beyond the concentrated media public) be put up in more remote district courts – without raising too much dust? After all, charges of church asylum are anything but undisputed, even in the CSU core electorate. Would you prefer to let test balloons soar far away from Munich?
Or is it simply up to the Bamberg Public Prosecutor’s Office? A spokesman says that it is absurd that such cases are “particularly stubborn”. A new boss has recently been in charge there. It will be exciting to see whether this changes anything.