News

The bishop of Hamburg - the world's first female Lutheran bishop - has resigned amid criticism of her handling of a sex abuse case. Maria Jepsen stepped down saying her credibility had been contested. She denies having known before May this year about a priest in the town of Ahrensburg who reportedly sexually abused boys and girls in the 1980s. Several cases in Germany form part of sex abuse scandals that have hit the Roman Catholic Church recently. Maria Jepsen is the third bishop to resign in Germany in recent months. Roman Catholic Bishop Walter Mixa resigned in April after claims he hit children. And the former head of the Protestant Church in Germany, Margot Kaesmann, resigned after she was caught by police drunk driving.