German archbishop offers to resign over Church's sexual abuse 'catastrophe'

FILE PHOTO: Cardinal Reinhard Marx, chairman of the German Bishop's Conference holds a news conference in Berlin, Germany, October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi

BERLIN (Reuters) -One of Roman Catholicism's most influential liberal figures, Germany's Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has offered to resign as archbishop of Munich, saying he had to share responsibility for the "catastrophe" of sexual abuse by clerics over past decades.

His offer, which Pope Francis has yet to accept, follows an uproar among the German faithful over abuse. Last week, the pope sent two senior foreign bishops to investigate the Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany's largest, over its handling of abuse cases.