The Bishop of Osnabrück, Franz-Josef Bode, (middle) during a mass in the Archbasilica of San Giovanni in Laterano in November.
Image: dpa
Bishop Bode disregarded papal guidelines, critics accuse him of. You now see the Vatican on the train.
IIn connection with the processing of cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic diocese of Osnabrück, the Vatican will have to deal with the behavior of Bishop Franz-Josef Bode. The Council of Affected Persons has filed a canon law complaint against Bode via the responsible Archdiocese of Hamburg, the joint Council of Persons Affected by the Archdiocese of Hamburg and the dioceses of Hildesheim and Osnabrück announced on Monday.
Bode’s attitude is still more perpetrator-oriented than victim-oriented. “Bishop Bode acted contrary to clear papal guidelines and, for example, declared sexualized violence against minors as a “relationship” this year,” the statement said.
The report was received on Thursday evening and forwarded by Archbishop Stefan Hess to the Apostolic Nunciature in Berlin on Friday, said a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Hamburg. The Vatican must now make a decision about Bode. The Osnabrück bishop recently refused to resign. First, the NDR in Lower Saxony reported on the ad.
The background to this is cases of abuse in the diocese of Osnabrück that have become known through a scientific report by the University of Osnabrück. In one case, a priest had sexualized violence against a young girl in a parish for years. The experts accuse the bishop of dereliction of duty: He gave the accused priest a management position in youth work in the same year that the person concerned reported the man to the bishop.
