The abuse study for the diocese of Osnabrück had already caused an earthquake before the scientists from the University of Osnabrück presented its final version on Wednesday: The interim report in autumn 2022 led to a German bishop offering to resign for the first time in connection with the abuse scandal and Pope Francis accepted this. The investigation found that Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, who had been in office since 1995, had breached his duties “in the low single-digit range”. In the authors’ judgment, these were “negligent, but not intentional”. As a result, Bode, who had been very popular until then, lost support in the diocese and announced his resignation from office in March 2023.
