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Archbishop Stefan Heße in Hamburg's Sankt Marien Cathedral (archive image)
Photo: Daniel Bockwoldt / dpa
The Cologne abuse report came to the conclusion that Archbishop Stefan Heße had committed breaches of duty in dealing with and investigating sexual crimes.
Nevertheless, Pope Francis has now rejected the clergyman's offer to resign.
The Vatican announced this on Wednesday through the Apostolic Nunciature in Berlin.
Heße, who was once head of personnel and vicar general in the Archdiocese of Cologne, had suspended his official business on March 18 after the Cologne abuse report was presented and offered the Pope his immediate resignation.
With the rejection, Heße, who has been Archbishop of Hamburg since 2015, remains in office despite heavy criticism.
The expert opinion of the law firm Gercke Wollschläger accuses Heße of eleven breaches of duty in dealing with cases of sexual violence during his time in Cologne.
Specifically, he is said to have failed to initiate church proceedings to clarify allegations of abuse and failed to report several cases to the public prosecutor or the Vatican.
In view of the fact that "that Heße humbly acknowledged his past mistakes and made his office available," the Pope came to the conclusion that Heße could continue his work in the Archdiocese of Hamburg, the reason is said. The report of the visitors who had come to Cologne to assess the situation, as well as the assessments of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia, had confirmed Francis in his decision.
After increasing public pressure, the archbishop, who is also the refugee commissioner of the German Bishops' Conference, had already informed the Vatican of the allegations against him in November of last year.
Heße had justified his resignation offer on March 18 with the wish to avert damage to the office of archbishop and the archbishopric of Hamburg.
At the same time, he had emphasized that he always acted to the best of his knowledge and belief and that he had never participated in a cover-up.
Still, he made mistakes.
The processes surrounding the processing of abuse in the Archdiocese of Cologne were the subject of an internal church review at the beginning of June.
The two bishops sent by the Pope had also spoken to Archbishop Heße.
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