Wednesday, July 09, 2025
55.0°F

German bishops elect new conference leader amid reform talks

The Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 4 months AGO
by The Associated Press
| March 3, 2020 9:38 AM

BERLIN (AP) — The German Bishops' Conference elected Bishop Georg Baetzing of Limburg as its new leader on Tuesday.

Fellow Roman Catholic bishops picked the 58-year-old Baetzing to follow Cardinal Reinhard Marx as conference chairman. Marx, 66, said last month that he would not seek a second term and wanted younger bishops to lead.

As chairman, Baetzing will oversee bishops from Germany's 27 Catholic dioceses for the next six years.

Baetzing became bishop of the Limburg diocese in 2016. He has been in charge of the German Bishops' Conference commission for inter-religious dialogue.

Germany's most influential Catholic lay group, the Central Committee of German Catholics, lauded Baetzing as a churchman who is willing to unite different factions within the church.

The bishops' conference and the lay group are leading a period of reform-oriented discussions in the the German Catholic Church, the two-year “synodal path” initiative.

The discussion topics include the Catholic Church's clergy sexual abuse crisis, the position of women in the church, the priesthood and sexual morality.

MORE IMPORTED STORIES

German bishops elect new conference leader amid reform talks
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 5 years, 4 months ago
Head of German Catholics says he'll step down at end of term
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 5 years, 4 months ago
German bishops set up system for larger sex abuse payments
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 4 years, 9 months ago

ARTICLES BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

September 9, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: US helped family escape Afghanistan overland

WASHINGTON — The United States is confirming for the first time that it has helped a U.S. citizen and family members to escape Afghanistan through an overland route to a neighboring country.

September 8, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: US helped family escape Afghanistan overland

WASHINGTON — The United States is confirming for the first time that it has helped a U.S. citizen and family members to escape Afghanistan through an overland route to a neighboring country.

September 8, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: Top Republican says Taliban holding Americans

WASHINGTON — The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee says some Americans who have been trying to get out of Afghanistan since the U.S. military left are sitting in airplanes at an airport ready to leave but the Taliban are not letting them take off.