By IANS/AKI,
Vatican City, April 22 (IANS/AKI) A German bishop accused of hitting children resigned Thursday.
Walter Mixa, bishop of Augsburg in Germany, has sent his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI, offering to quit to allow a “new start” for his diocese, the Augsburg diocese said.
The bishop initially denied having hit children. Later he said he may have slapped them. He issued a statement of apology Tuesday saying “it hurts my heart that so many people have been caused grief. I ask for forgiveness.”
Mixa was accused of hitting children at a Catholic children’s home in the 1970s and 1980s, but has not been accused of any sexual abuse.
The Vatican did not immediately say if it has accepted Mixa’s resignation.
The Catholic Church has been engulfed by allegations of child sex abuse that have emerged across Europe and the US. The allegations have put pressure on the Church in countries including the Pope’s native Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Austria.