Top Catholic bishop in anguish as Zollitsch gives up privileges over abuses

FREIBURG  – The chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, has distanced himself from one of his predecessors, the former bishop of Freiburg, Robert Zollitsch. 

“During his time as chairman of the Bishops’ Conference in 2010, decisive measures were taken to come to terms with abuse in the Catholic Church. He apparently did not apply these even in his diocese during the same time and skipped them,” Bätzing told Saturday’s edition of the local newspaper the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung.

Bätzing said he found this irresponsible and was at a loss as to how this could have happened.  Former archbishop Zollitsch was also chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference from February 2008 to March 2014.

A report published on Tuesday on sexual abuse by clergy in the archdiocese of Freiburg shows that his tenure in Freiburg until 2013 was marked by a “concrete cover-up.”

The 84-year-old already admitted serious mistakes and personal guilt in a video in October. His spokesman announced on Friday, without giving any reasons, that Zollitsch was giving back his Federal Cross of Merit and that he was also giving up the privilege of being buried in the bishop’s crypt in Freiburg Cathedral.

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Bätzing said that Rome would have to judge how to classify the results of the expert opinion on Zollitsch – “and possibly have to sanction.”

Bätzing could not imagine Zollitsch ever appearing in public again. “That would not be appropriate either.”

Current Archbishop of Freiburg Stephan Burger enjoys his unrestricted trust, Bätzing said. According to the report, Burger had not covered anything up.

He expects his fellow bishops to “undertake this difficult process of coming to terms with the past” in every diocese, because this would above all help those affected to gain their rights. The process of coming to terms with the past must be placed in independent hands, Bätzing said.