People are running away from the Catholic Church in Germany in droves: the German Bishops’ Conference has announced around 360,000 resignations and is “deeply shaken”. The diocese of Cologne, which is always busy with scandals, even doubles the figures for the previous year.
The Catholic Church in Germany set a new record for people leaving the church last year. In 2021, almost 360,000 people left the church, 86,567 more than in the previous record year 2019, according to the German Bishops’ Conference. The chairman of the bishops’ conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, was “deeply shaken” by this sudden increase.
Last year, the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in Germany, which had been going on for years, escalated further. In particular, the processing in the Archdiocese of Cologne and the behavior of Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki there caused massive criticism. In the Archdiocese of Cologne there were 40,772 people leaving the church, more than double the 17,281 cases in the previous year. “The scandals that we have to complain about within the church and for which we are largely responsible are reflected in the number of people leaving. We must not distort this, we must say goodbye to the idea that the churches will be full again or that the number of believers is increasing again,” said Bätzing.
Exactly 100,872 believers left the Catholic Church in Bavaria. Archbishop Ludwig Schick of Bamberg rated the statistics as “sad and bitter, but unfortunately to be expected”. Franz Jung, the bishop of Würzburg, found clearer words: Like many Catholics, he was angry and disappointed about “the problematic image that we as a church give – in Germany, in the Vatican and in the world church,” it said in one communication from his diocese. “It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that many people are currently withdrawing their trust in the church and are also refusing to approve of our good deeds.”
The reasons why believers leave the church do not have to be stated. Bätzing explained that “the figures for 2021 show the profound crisis in which we find ourselves as the Catholic Church in Germany.” In the meantime, not only people are leaving who have not had any contact with the church for a long period of time, but also more and more Catholics who have been very committed up to now.
