According to reports on abuse in Bavaria: the number of people leaving the church has exploded

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Empty rows: In Bavaria, more and more people are leaving the church (symbol image)

Photo: Franziska Kraufmann / picture alliance / dpa

The number of people leaving the church in Bavarian cities exploded after the presentation of the Munich abuse report about a month ago.

This was the result of a survey by the German Press Agency among several cities in the Free State.

In Munich, the number of people leaving the church has doubled, as a spokesman for the district administration department (KVR) reported: “In the first half of January, i.e. before the report, we had about 80 people leaving the church per working day in Munich.

Since January 20, i.e. since the report, there have been around 150 to 160 people leaving the church every working day.

So about twice as many.«

more on the subject

• Munich Abuse Report: What Benedict XVI.

  accused - and how he reacted by Florian Pütz

• Abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich: Three archbishops, one abuser - the timeline in the case of Peter H.

And there could be even more.

"Demand is certainly three times higher than at the beginning of the year," said the spokesman.

But the situation is not manageable: "The limit here is our capacity limit, especially for staff." The KVR had extended the opening hours and used more people.

"Despite extended opening hours and staff reassignments, it will probably not be possible to serve all exit requests promptly due to the very high demand."

Other cities confirm the trend

Between the day the abuse report was presented on January 20 and February 14, the Nuremberg registry office reported 617 people leaving the church, 381 from the Catholic Church, 234 from the Protestant Church and two others.

Two years ago - in the comparison year 2020 - the registry office had only 372 resignations in this period, of which 200 were Catholic, 165 Protestant and seven others.

In Ingolstadt, from January 20 to February 17, 254 people declared their resignation from the church - in the same period last year there were 84. "The registry office reports continued high demand for exit dates," said a spokesman for the city.

The report by the law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW), presented on January 20 and commissioned by the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising itself, came to the conclusion that cases of sexual abuse in the diocese had not been dealt with appropriately for decades.

The experts assume at least 497 victims and 235 alleged perpetrators, but at the same time from a significantly higher number of unreported cases.

They raised serious allegations against, among others, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger, whom they accuse of fourfold misconduct in dealing with cases of abuse.

Not only did the allegations trigger sharp criticism of the former head of the Catholic Church, but also the way in which Benedict XVI.

handles it.

It is true that he answered the experts' questions in detail on 82 pages, which is basically to be rated positively at first.

However, the content disappoints many of those affected.

For example, in a statement to the experts, he argued that a convicted priest had committed his crimes as a "private citizen."

In another, central case, he admitted after publication that he had initially made false statements and referred to a mistake "in the editorial processing" of his statement.

nile/dpa