The Catholic initiative “Neuer Anfang” (New Beginning) launched harsh criticism against the now former president of the German Episcopal Conference, Msgr. Georg Bätzing, for the inclusion of the priest Wolfgang Rothe in the advisory council for victims of abuse of the episcopal conference itself. The decision has been described by several victims as “a slap in the face for all real victims”.
According to the German newspaper Die Tagespost, the appointment of Rothe—a priest of the Archdiocese of Munich known for his participation in Christopher Street Day (Gay Pride March in Germany) events and for publicly blessing homosexual couples—has generated strong controversy due to past incidents that had already caused a scandal in an Austrian seminary two decades ago.
The decision was made just a few days before Bätzing stepped down from the presidency of the German Episcopal Conference, a position he left on February 24, when the bishops elected Msgr. Heiner Wilmer as the new president. Thus, this appointment constitutes one of the last moves by the prelate at the helm of the German episcopate.
A priest marked by a scandal in a seminary
The case dates back to 2004, when Rothe was subdirector of the seminary in St. Pölten, Austria. At that time, a report by the weekly magazine Profil denounced that both the rector and his deputy were maintaining sexual relations with seminarians.
Rothe took the case to court in an attempt to halt the publication of that information. However, according to the magazine Cicero, the Vienna Regional Court rejected the lawsuit in 2005 after examining various testimonies and considering it proven that the priest had maintained a homosexual relationship with a seminarian within the seminary itself.
The priest appealed the judicial decision, but both the Vienna Higher Regional Court and, subsequently, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the initial ruling, which allowed the published information to remain available.
Abuse victims denounce lack of sensitivity
The controversy erupted after the German Episcopal Conference included Rothe in the advisory council for victims of abuse, a body intended to represent those who have suffered abuse in the ecclesiastical sphere.
For the leaders of the “Neuer Anfang” initiative, this decision demonstrates a profound lack of sensitivity toward the victims.
Bernhard Meuser, co-founder of the movement, and the theologian Gabriel Weiten, both victims of abuse in their youth, explained that the news of Rothe’s appointment caused them deep shock.
“It was like a punch to the stomach,” they stated. Weiten recounted that the decision rekindled traumatic memories he believed he had overcome after the priest who abused him had been expelled from the clerical state.
Accusations of opacity in the German Episcopal Conference
Critics also claim that their protests were ignored by the structures of the German Church. According to their account, after learning of the appointment, they attempted to reach out to the victims’ council itself and to officials of the Episcopal Conference, but encountered a wall.
“We encountered silence, evasions, and blockades at all levels of the German Episcopal Conference,” they denounced.
These criticisms also question the credibility of the transparency commitments that Bätzing had promised during his tenure regarding abuse cases within the German Church.
Bätzing accused of lack of moral responsibility
In a letter addressed to all German bishops, Meuser and Weiten describe Rothe’s appointment as “an unbearable scandal from the victims’ perspective”.
In the same document, they reproach the then-president of the episcopal conference for signing the appointment without showing any moral objections and criticize him for later claiming to have no ethical responsibility for the decision.
“It is a scandal that the president of the Episcopal Conference signed this appointment without any qualms of conscience,” they state in the letter.
Even Cardinal Marx expressed his opposition
The decision has not been free from criticism within the German episcopate itself. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich—the diocese where Rothe currently works—voiced his opposition to the appointment.
Despite the protests and questions directed to the German Episcopal Conference, to date no clear public response has been offered regarding the case.