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Top German bishop accused over job for abuse priest
Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of the German Bishops' Conference, arrives to give a statement to media in Bonn, April 22, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Ina Fassbender/Files
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BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's top Roman Catholic bishop is being investigated on suspicion of allowing a priest accused of child abuse in the 1960s to be reappointed to a parish job in 1987, state prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Prosecutors in the southwestern city of Freiburg said charges of aiding and abetting sexual abuse had been filed against Robert Zollitsch, head of the German Bishops' Conference and archbishop of Freiburg.
Zollitsch, 71, was head of church personnel in Freiburg when a Cistercian priest was given a parish job in Birnau despite charges of child abuse against the cleric being known to church authorities, prosecutors said.
The archdiocese denied in a statement that Zollitsch was responsible for the appointment, saying the decision was taken independently by the monk's religious order.
The archdiocese accused the prosecutors and news media of raking up "sensationalism" by describing the charges against Zollitsch as aiding and abetting sexual abuse. (Additional reporting by Hans-Edzard Busemann; writing by Stephen Brown)
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