Germany’s Protestant church leader resigns after sexual abuse cover-up claims

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - Germany’s Protestant church leader resigned on Monday following accusations that she covered up sexual abuse of children by a church employee.

Annette Kurschus told a news conference that she has decided to step down as recent media reports undermined “the public’s trust in her,” but she denied any wrongdoing.

“At every moment I acted to the best of my knowledge and my conscience,” she said.

Local media had claimed that Kurschus did not report a sexual abuse case to her superiors while she was serving as a pastor in the western city of Siegen at the end of the 1990s.

Siegener Zeitung newspaper reported that the accused church employee sexually harassed young men for years. The Siegen public prosecutor’s office is currently investigating several suspected cases, according to the daily.

Kurschus, a prominent theologian, said she decided to step down as she wanted to prevent damage to the church.

Kurschus was elected as the head of Protestant church federation, the EKD, in 2020. The federation represents around 19 million Protestant Christians in Germany.