The chairman of the Catholic German Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, distances himself from his predecessor, the former Archbishop of Freiburg Robert Zollitsch, and accuses him of irresponsible behavior. “During his time as chairman of the bishops’ conference in 2010, decisive measures were taken to deal with abuse in the Catholic Church. He apparently did not apply them in his diocese at the same time and ignored them,” he said Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung. The Limburg bishop added that he was “really at a loss” as to how this could happen: “There was obviously a lack of effective control. And that’s one of the biggest mistakes in the system.”
The current Archbishop of Freiburg, Stephan Burger, acted correctly in asking the Vatican to review the processes, Bätzing added: “In this case, Rome must assess how the results of the report on Archbishop Zollitsch are to be classified – and may have to be sanctioned.” In any case, he thinks it impossible for Zollitsch to appear in public again, the bishop continued: “I can’t imagine that. That wouldn’t be appropriate either.” The chairman of the bishops’ conference expressed clear expectations of his fellow bishops in Germany: “I expect that this difficult process of coming to terms with things will be carried out in every diocese. Because it helps those affected to get their rights.” From his point of view, however, this processing must be placed in independent hands.