Porn scandal rocks Austria's Catholics

A Catholic bishop blamed for a seminary porn scandal that has rocked Austria’s church has resigned, Austrian media reported.

Bishop Kurt Krenn, who had overall responsibility for the seminary where authorities found up to 40,000 lurid images on computers – including child pornography – sent a letter to Pope John Paul II saying he was stepping down, Austrian state radio said.

The respected newspaper Der Standard quoted Krenn in today’s edition as saying: “Yes, I am resigning immediately as bishop of St. Poelten”, the diocese 50 miles west of Vienna where the seminary is located.

Neither Krenn nor diocesan officials were immediately available for comment. Austrian radio cited unidentified church leaders as saying a search already was under way for a successor to Krenn.

The Austrian Bishops Conference declined to comment yesterday, saying it would await an official announcement from the Vatican.

The Pope appointed another Austrian cleric, Bishop Klaus Kueng, as an “apostolic visitor” to investigate the affair, which has deeply embarrassed the Church. Police have been conducting a separate criminal investigation.

Last month, Kueng shut down the seminary, where trainee priests also had snapped photographs of each other kissing and fondling one another and their older religious instructors.

Some of the photos were published, triggering an uproar that church officials disclosed last week has prompted as many as 10,000 believers to formally withdraw from church rolls.

Calls had mounted on Krenn, 68, to resign or be fired by the Vatican after his dismissive comments characterising the downloading of the pornography at the seminary as nothing more than a “childish prank”.

In an interview with Der Standard, Krenn said he was stepping down voluntarily from the post he has held for 13 years, and not because of pressure from Rome.

“The Pope does not force anybody to resign. He asks at the most that someone go,” Krenn was quoted as saying.

Prosecutors investigating the child pornography aspect of the case have charged a 27-year-old former seminary student from Poland with possessing and distributing illicit material, a federal offense punishable by up to two years in prison. He went on trial last month.