Believers are turning their backs on the church “in droves”: the number of people leaving the church in Bavaria is increasing

Created: 03/21/2022, 09:57 am

By: Helena Grillenberger

The number of people leaving the church continues to rise.

© dpa

The number of people leaving the church remains high.

Almost 7,000 people have already left this year.

Munich – According to the district administration department, almost 7,000 people have left the church in Munich alone since the beginning of the year.

The number of people leaving the church in Bavaria is increasing.

In 2021 there were around 3300 in the same period and around 3800 a year earlier.

In January, the law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl presented a report on behalf of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising that made headlines around the world.

It had concluded that cases of sexual abuse in the diocese had not been adequately addressed for decades.

Abuse report on the Catholic Church: 497 victims and 235 alleged perpetrators

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

They also suspect that Munich archbishops - including the later Pope Benedict XVI.

- had behaved incorrectly in dealing with it.

Since then, municipalities in Bavaria and the Catholic Church itself have reported rapidly increasing numbers of people leaving.

The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK), Georg Bätzing, recently said at the spring plenary assembly in the pilgrimage site of Vierzehnheiligen that the faithful were turning their backs on their church "in droves".

Resignations from the church: Numbers about twice as high as in the previous year

In Nuremberg, according to the local registry office, 1,050 people had already left the Roman Catholic Church by March 16 this year.

In the comparative period of 2021, it was less than half at 425.

In Würzburg, 547 Catholics left by mid-March, in 2021 there were 315 in the same period. In Bamberg, according to the city, 340 Catholics left the church in two and a half months up to mid-March of this year.

In 2021 it was 642 for the whole year.

Nuremberg, Würzburg and Bamberg are among the municipalities that break down the number of people leaving the church according to Protestants and Catholics.

Others - like the city of Munich - only give total figures.

Resignations from the church in Bavaria: the number in Regensburg has almost tripled

In Regensburg, 1043 people left the church by mid-March - almost three times as many as in 2021 (363).

In 2020, the city counted 474 resignations in the same period.

By March 15, 529 people in Ingolstadt had declared their withdrawal from the church - 333 more than in the same period in 2021.

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The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising has invited to a discussion event on Monday evening, March 21, at 7 p.m. entitled “Those Affected Hear”, in which Cardinal Reinhard Marx and members of the Diocese’s Advisory Board for Affected People also want to take part.

The advisory board had recently accused Marx of remaining inactive after the report was presented.

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