Bishop quit over his abuse of a child

NORWAY’S Catholic Church revealed yesterday a bishop who resigned last year did so after admitting he had molested a child years earlier, when he was a priest.

Georg Mueller stepped down as bishop in the western city of Trondheim in June 2009. The Church said it had not previously disclosed the reason for his resignation at the request of the victim.

Mueller’s successor, Bishop Bernt Eidsvig, said in a statement yesterday the 58- year-old German had been removed from all pastoral duties and undergone therapy after he admitted the abuse. Mueller admitted to only one case — before he became a bishop in 1997 — and no other allegations have come to light, Church officials said.

“Mueller has been divested of his authority, and he won’t be allowed to work in a church again,” Eidsvig told Adresseavisen, the Trondheim daily newspaper.

It’s too late for the case to be tried in civil court because the statute of limitations in Norway has passed, Eidsvig said.

Vatican spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi said the abuse occurred at “the beginning of the ’90s”. Mueller was then a diocesan priest in Trondheim.

Lombardi said Church authorities learned about the case in January last year.

Eidsvig said he was making the case public at the request of Cardinal William Levada, who oversees the office that handles cases of alleged abuse by priests.