Catholic Church
Pope accepts the resignation of Archbishop Schick of Bamberg
Pope Francis has accepted Archbishop Schick of Bamberg’s resignation. photo
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
The Archdiocese of Bamberg needs a new head shepherd. Archbishop Ludwig Schick retires. Pope Francis accepts his resignation – although it comes as a surprise to observers.
Bamberg Archbishop Ludwig Schick has resigned. Pope Francis accepted his resignation, the Holy See announced on Tuesday. This means that there are two vacant bishoprics in Germany, Bamberg and Paderborn.
In general, bishops offer their resignation to the head of the Catholic Church after the age of 75. The 73-year-old Schick was in the Vatican for an audience with Francis at the end of April. Schick’s departure came as a surprise to some observers.
The chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, appreciates Schick’s many years of work. He had been a member of the DBK for 24 years.
Companion of the Synodal Path
“You look back on a long and eventful time,” wrote Bätzing in a letter to the 73-year-old. “You were a member of the German Bishops’ Conference for almost a quarter of a century and made a committed contribution, played a key role in shaping debates and were our safe authority in all questions of ecclesiastical law.”
Schick was considered one of the more liberal bishops in the DBK. Schick enriched the bishops’ conference with expertise and subtle humor, precision and the courageous demand, with ideas and perspectives. Bätzing expressly thanks him for going along with the reform process of the synodal path.
For reasons of age, Schick, who was born in Marburg in 1949, no longer took up the post of chairman of the World Church Commission of the German Bishops’ Conference last year, which he had chaired since 2006.
Schick was appointed auxiliary bishop in Fulda in 1998, and just four years later the then Pope John Paul II made him archbishop of Bamberg. Within the DBK he was also a member of the pastoral commission and representative for men’s pastoral care.