Vatican Rules out Mixas Plea to Recall Resignation, Hurriyet Daily News, June 16, 2010

Vatican Rules out Mixa's Plea to Recall Resignation

Hurriyet Daily News
June 16, 2010

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=vatican-rules-out-mixas-plea-to-recall-resignation-2010-06-16

The disgraced former German bishop, Walter Mixa, who resigned for hitting orphans accused on Wednesday senior Church figures of plotting against him and said he would seek rehabilitation when he meets the pope in July.

The Vatican leaves the former bishop of Augsburg with little hope to rejoin the Catholic Church's ranks after his resignation in April, prompted by allegations of financial irregularities and child abuse.

“Pope Benedict XIV will receive Walter Mixa in the coming weeks. The acceptance of his resignation, however, is not likely to be a subject of debate,” Vatican spokesperson Frederico Lombardi said.

Mixa’s offer to resign on April 22 after allegations for misuse of financial resources and physical abuse of orphans, was approved only two weeks later by a – for the Vatican unusually – quick decision.

Mixa now depicts himself as the victim of an intrigue in an interview Wednesday with the German daily Die Welt, saying he was forced to resign.

He did not even formulate his own resignation letter, he told Die Welt.

“The pressure under which I signed the resignation announcement equaled purgatory,” Mixa said.

Three days after his resignation, he wrote a letter to the pope, recalling the offer.

Mixa is considering legal action, saying an appeal before the Vatican court in Rome is a “good idea” and he is considering it.

An expert on the Church’s canon, Heribert Hallermann, says Mixa’s plea to recall his resignation has no chance in the Vatican. According to canon 333 paragraph 3 of the Roman –Catholic Chuch there is no decree above that of the pope and no complaints can be issued.

“The pope is the highest authority in the church; there is no court above him. This should be quite well-known,” Hallermann says. With his reproach Mixa is even damaging the authority of the papal office, because it means the pope did not properly examine Mixa’s resignation offer, he said.

Mixa also accused other church dignitaries in Augsburg of knowingly leaking false allegations of sexual child abuse against him to the press. The prosecutor’s office cleared him shortly thereafter of the allegations.