German cardinal offers to quit over church abuse

Cardinal Reinhard Marx has offered his resignation. Picture: AP/Alessandra Tarantino

A leading German cardinal and confidante of Pope Francis, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has offered to resign as archbishop over the Catholic Church’s mishandling of clergy sexual abuse cases, declaring that the church had arrived at “a dead end”.

The archdiocese of Munich and Freising published Cardinal Marx’s resignation letter to the pope online, in multiple languages, and the cardinal said Francis had given him permission to make it public.